Where You Belong (Bovine, Texas 2)
by SteelCityMagnolia
Summary: Based on the Hayes Cooper storyline and a follow-up to A Lucky Man, Judd Weaver plans to propose to Lily, who has been struggling with the town's inability to accept her. Will she accept his proposal, or will a terrifying experience change Judd's mind about marrying her? For Sydney/Gage fans, Judd/Lily are Sydney/Gage counterparts in the Hayes Cooper storyline. STORY COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**_DISCLAIMER: AS ALWAYS, I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE WALKER, TEXAS RANGER CHARACTERS NOR IS ANY OWNERSHIP IMPLIED._**

 ** _AUTHOR'S NOTE: IN THE HAYES COOPER FLASHBACKS OF THE LAST EPISODES OF WTR, SYDNEY'S CHARACTER WAS NOT NAMED. SINCE SHE IS A VITAL CHARACTER IN THESE STORIES, SHE NEEDED A NAME, SO I TOOK THE LIBERTY OF CHOOSING A NAME FOR HER._**

"Mornin', Cooper," Deputy Judd Weaver closed the door to the jail behind him and crossed the room to the crackling woodstove, whistling cheerfully as he went. He helped himself to a cup of strong coffee from the pot on top of the stove and sat down on the wooden chair across from Sheriff Hayes Cooper. Still whistling his cheerful tune, he took off his hat and tossed it on the table between him and the sheriff, who grimaced at the puff of dust it released as it hit the worn wooden surface.

"Sorry, boss," Judd's face reddened when he saw the small dust cloud rise from his old hat and drift into his boss's face, directed by the late summer morning's breeze through the open window.

Hayes Cooper's face showed the slightest sign of a smile. It was really hard to get or stay angry at the young deputy for any length of time for most any reason, especially when he reminded Cooper so much of himself at that age: young, fiery, and with a true passion for justice.

"You seem to be in an especially good mood this morning, Weaver," Cooper noted. "Any particular reason why?"

"Yes, sir, there is." A broad grin spread across Judd Weaver's face. "I stopped at the general store this morning. I ordered something real special and it just arrived on last night's stage. Take a look at this."

Weaver stood and pulled a small velveteen bag from his hip pocket. He untied the string that held it shut and then turned the bag upside down above the wooden tabletop. A delicate golden band sang out a metallic ringing noise as it fell to the worn surface and circled to a stop, gleaming in the sunlight that streamed through the window.

"Well, I'll be…" Cooper began, letting out a low whistle.

"That's right, boss. I made up my mind and bought Lily a wedding ring. I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Cooper picked the ring up and studied it closely. The thin gold band was etched with a scrolled pattern and was quite lovely, much nicer than the plain band Althea wore. Yet Althea was a no-nonsense kind of woman and her wedding band suited her. This fancy band was definitely more suited for Lily, who had been raised back east and had a certain flair about her that came from her theater background and her years of singing in the saloon she now owned. Yes, this ring was definitely more her style.

"So, what do you think?" Weaver asked nervously. "Do you think she'll like it?"

"I think I'm paying you too damn much is what I think," Cooper joked, handing the ring back to the young deputy. "And yes. Yes. I think she'll like it very much. When are you going to ask her?"

Judd Weaver let out a long sigh and scratched his fingers through his long blond hair. "I don't know. Do you know it took me well over a year and a gunfight to get up the nerve to talk to her in the first place? I don't want to wait a year and I'm definitely not in the mood for getting shot at."

Hayes Cooper looked thoughtful for a moment. "Althea and I were thinking about riding out to the old homestead this Sunday after church to look around and to see how Matt and Berkey are doing with the horses out there. Why don't you and Lily come with us? There are some pretty places along the creek where you could take a walk," Cooper grinned and winked, knowing Weaver would understand that he was giving him a perfect opportunity to steal Lily away and propose to her in private.

"But shouldn't one of us stay here in town in case there's a problem?" Weaver asked.

"I'll leave word with the mayor where we'll be. If there's a problem, he can send for us. We won't be that far away. Besides, I don't think there will be any problems, not on a Sunday, at least," Cooper replied. They were lucky. As far as cattle towns in Texas went, Bovine was pretty quiet, and their two jail cells usually only housed drunken cowboys who needed to cool off and sober up after a night of drinking and fighting at the Red Ox Saloon.

"I suppose you're right," Weaver replied. "It is pretty quiet around here."

"Since you became deputy and Matt and Berkey took to managing that herd of horses, we don't get much excitement anymore," Cooper chuckled.

Judd Weaver felt his face redden once again. It was true. Back in the day, he and his friends used to spend a lot of nights drinking and tearing up the town. Since he and his former roughnecking buddies had settled down, though, so had things in Bovine. Ah, well, they had sowed their wild oats and it was fun while it lasted, he thought with more than a twinge of shame.

"I suppose I had better ask Lily about Sunday." Weaver stood and picked his hat up off the table and strode out of the jail, as Cooper grinned at the young deputy's obvious embarrassment. Funny how falling head over heels in love could whip a young man into line and change his whole life, he mused, recalling how the same thing had happened to him when he had met a certain Miss Althea Bloom not all that long ago.

* * *

Liliana Westfall rifled through the pile of dresses on her bed, mentally dismissing dress after dress for reason after reason: too lacy, too frilly, too much, too little, too bright, too flouncy, too everything. She pushed her hair off her brow and sighed in frustration as the pile of discarded dresses grew. Why, oh, why did she ever let Althea Cooper talk her in to going to church with her and her husband that morning? She had nothing to wear that was even appropriate for church. She had been part of a traveling theater troupe and a saloon singer. The latter alone was enough to keep her from setting foot inside a church lest lightning strike it and the depths of Hell yawn open beneath it. It wasn't that she didn't believe in God; it was that after all she had been through, she felt that God no longer believed in her.

At least that's what she thought up until last spring when that handsome roughneck finally found both his tongue and his nerve at the same moment and spoke to her. Judd Weaver had been coming to the Red Ox Saloon for almost a year to drink or play poker. He always seemed to find a seat right close to the piano and he always found a way to make eye contact or put himself in her path if she was crossing the room, but all he ever seemed to do was tip his hat and smile at her. If some drunken cowboy was giving her trouble, he always stood up for her, but he never spoke directly to her, not until the day of the shootout with Moon Lavocat's gang when her dear friend Clarence was killed. Funny, the day she lost her dearest and closest friend in Bovine, the day she felt God had abandoned her the most – more than the day she awoke to find that Albert had taken the early stage back east and had left her, broke and all alone in that dusty, forsaken cattle town – was the day her luck had changed for the better. That was the day Judd Weaver finally spoke to her. Two weeks later, she was the proud owner of a house and a saloon thanks to Clarence, and not long after that, Judd was courting her. All was right in Lily's world, so maybe God hadn't forgotten her after all. The very least she could do was go to church and thank Him.

Lily poked through the mass of ruffles and lace once more time. Surely there was something in that heap of fabric suitable for Sunday church services. Her dark eyes settled on an errant ruffle at the bottom of the pile. She pulled out what was probably the plainest dress she owned, a pale lavender dress with elbow-length fitted sleeves and an ankle-length scalloped hem adorned with a single ruffle. The waistline was cinched with a dark purple sash that tied in a large bow at the back. Somewhere, she had a hat with the same dark purple ribbon. The neckline of the dress was a bit too low for church, but she dug around in a trunk and found a crocheted shawl she could throw over her shoulders and pin closed over the too-revealing neckline with a cameo brooch. Lily found the hat in a hatbox and let out another frustrated sigh. She had forgotten about the feathers on the hat, and feathers just wouldn't do for church. She studied the hat closely and found that the feathers were just loosely stitched on to the hat underneath the ribbon. She pulled them off and smoothed the dark purple material to hide the broken stitches and set the hat atop her dark hair. She had just finished tying her hat in place when she heard Judd's knock at her front door.

Judd Weaver was never a church-going man. Any praying he did took place over the graves of fallen soldiers he helped to dig at the end of the Civil War, the few that were lucky enough to have graves dug for them. Most of the time he just prayed as they passed by the fallen on their way to the next battle, averting his eyes and begging God for mercy on their souls. He had lucked out in the war and had spent most of his time away from the front lines, digging trenches, scouting, and tending horses for the high-ranking brass after a kind-hearted colonel realized that he was underage. After the war, he drifted west. He'd heard stories about land and wealth and with little to nothing left for him at home, he saddled his horse, a half-starved creature he won in a poker game, and took off opposite the direction of the sunrise. There was land aplenty, that much was true; however, the stories about wealth were just that. Stories. Stories made up by other men just like him. Men who had survived the war and didn't have much, if anything to go back home to, but had a lot of hope in their hearts and dreams in their heads. As Judd struggled to eke out some kind of living in the west, the idea of God drifted farther and farther from his mind; not a difficult thing to do when churches and preachers were few and far between and praying was something one only tended to do when faced with imminent danger. When Hayes Cooper told him that his wife had suggested inviting him and Lily to join them at church that Sunday before riding out to their old homestead for a picnic, Weaver was apprehensive. The idea of being in a church made him feel uncomfortable, but with his plan to ask Lily to marry him, he knew he was going to have to set foot in a church at some point so he felt it was best to get it over with sooner than later.

* * *

Any apprehension Judd felt that morning melted away the moment Lily opened her door and greeted him with a pleasant smile.

"Ready?" Judd asked, holding his arm out for Lily.

Lily nodded in return, closing the door behind her.

"I must say, we do make a very respectable-looking couple," Judd observed with a smile.

"Let's hope the church-going folks of Bovine think the same way," Lily replied, nervously fidgeting with her shawl and the brooch that held it closed over the neckline of her dress.

"I can't see why they wouldn't," Judd squeezed Lily's hand and smiled at her. "And if they don't, I wouldn't care anyway."

They met Althea and Hayes Cooper outside the church. Althea was holding a cranky baby Jane who was struggling in her mother's arms to be let down. The baby girl had just recently taken her very first steps and was anxious for her mother to put her down and let her explore, but Althea was having none of it.

"I'm hoping she tires herself out and falls asleep soon, otherwise the pastor and the entire congregation are going to be very upset with me," Althea told Lily as they walked toward the church where the pastor greeted them warmly.

"Deputy Weaver, welcome, it's good to see you here." Pastor Gibson extended his hand to Judd.

"Pastor," Althea spoke, "this is Lily Westfall. She is a friend of ours."

The pastor held his hand out welcomingly to Lily as well. "Miss Westfall, it's good to see you here, too. We're always pleased to welcome new faces to our congregation."

Lily nodded her head shyly. "Thank you," she replied. She could already feel the curious eyes upon her as Judd guided her into the church ahead of him and they took their seats in the pew next to Althea and Cooper.

Behind them, Lily could hear the whispers. Her face felt hot and she felt sick to her stomach. In the pew behind them, Rose Tinsley spoke just loud enough for Judd, Lily, and the Coopers to hear.

"What is she doing here? This is no place for her kind."

Beside Lily in the pew, Althea shifted Jane in her arms and pressed her lips tightly together in a hard line.

"I'm telling you, Leroy, it's an abomination for that, _that_ _woman_ to be here. The pastor should be ashamed to let her through the door."

The whispering and tittering continued and hot, shameful tears stung Lily's eyes. She turned to Judd.

"They're right," she whispered hoarsely. "I don't belong here. I should go."

"No, Lily. You belong here just as much as anyone else," Judd replied, his bright blue eyes filled with sympathy. "It doesn't matter what they think. It's what God thinks that's important."

Lily gave Judd a pained look and settled back uncomfortably in the pew between him and Althea. Behind them, Rose Tinsley continued her stream of vitriol.

"Althea Cooper, just what were you thinking? And with a young child to worry about, too. Have you lost your mind?"

Althea heard all she intended to hear. She turned and shot Rose Tinsley an icy glare.

"Rose Tinsley, how absolutely unchristian of you. I'll thank you to keep your thoughts to yourself," Althea snapped harshly. The sharp tone of her voice awakened the dozing baby in her arms and Jane squirmed and squealed her displeasure. Althea cringed. She had hoped that Jane would sleep through the service. She rocked the baby and murmured calming words to her, allowing the baby to suck on her fingertip to soothe herself back to sleep.

"I can't help how I feel, Althea. If that makes me a poor Christian, then so be it. I'll answer to the Lord, and not to you and your choice of company." Rose Tinsley's voice was shrill, drawing the attention of the other churchgoers. Lily squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall at any second. She couldn't let these people see her break and cry. She started to stand to leave, but Pastor Gibson's voice boomed throughout the sanctuary, welcoming the congregation and signaling the start of the service. Lily let out a ragged breath and settled herself once again in the pew between Althea and Judd. At least with Pastor Gibson speaking, Rose Tinsley would be quiet.

Judd Weaver was painfully aware of Lily's discomfort and was growing angrier and angrier by the second at the vicious commentary coming from the pew behind them. He longed to take Lily's hand and reassure her but he knew that was inappropriate behavior for church. Instead, he rubbed his elbow as inconspicuously as he could against Lily's arm. He heard her sigh softly and felt her seem to relax slightly, but that did little to calm his anger. He knew that Mrs. Tinsley had no issue at all with the money that Lily's saloon made for her husband's bank, and he had a good mind to point that fact out to the woman the first chance he had.

The ebb and flow of Pastor Gibson's voice and words as he spoke the scripture had a calming effect on Lily and a peacefulness fell over her despite the morning's unpleasantness. She had to admit, it was a feeling she had long missed. When the pastor asked the congregation to stand and sing, Lily was pleased to find he had chosen a hymn that had been one of her favorites since childhood. Her crystal-clear soprano soared above the other voices in the room until she remembered herself and who and where she was. She dropped her voice and finished the song at barely a whisper. Pastor Gibson noticed and made mention of it.

"Somebody brought a lovely singing voice with them today. I wish they would have finished the song for us," he said with a kind smile before he continued with the sermon.

Lily could feel the piercing eyes on the back of her neck and wanted to crawl beneath the pew and hide. She could barely concentrate on the rest of the sermon and sang the rest of the morning's hymns in a hushed voice, praying that the service would end soon. She was thankful when she heard Pastor Gibson give the final prayer and bid the congregation farewell for the week. As she stood to leave with Judd, Althea, and Cooper, she tried to make herself as small as possible so as not to draw any further attention to herself.

Pastor Gibson stopped them at the door. "Deputy Weaver, it was good to see you today. I hope you'll come back. And Miss Westfall, was that your beautiful voice I heard singing?"

Lily nodded shyly. "It may have been, Pastor."

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Everyone is welcome here, you know. Everyone. I do hope you'll come back, too," Pastor Gibson smiled warmly.

Not a chance, Lily thought to herself. Not a chance in hell.


	2. Chapter 2

Seated on blankets in the back of Cooper's buckboard wagon, Lily was finally able to relax. She had tried to apologize to Althea after the morning's church service, but Althea would hear nothing of it.

"Lily, you have nothing to apologize for. If anything, I should apologize to you. I feel simply awful for what happened this morning, and in church of all things, too."

"Oh, Althea, it wasn't your fault. You had no idea."

Lily decided to put the morning out of her mind and enjoy the rest of the day. On the bench in front of her, Jane fussed in Althea's arms and leaned over her mother's shoulder to reach for Lily. Althea tried to settle the restless baby.

"Here, let me give you a break," Lily spoke. "Hand her back here to me." She reached up to take Jane from her mother and nestled the tiny blond child in her lap. Almost instantly, the baby girl began cooing and babbling happily as she took in the view from her new surroundings.

Across from Lily, Judd Weaver smiled. For a moment, looking at Lily holding and playing with Jane, he had a glimpse of his future. He had that same feeling once before, looking in the window of the Coopers' home the day he and Lily had gone on their first picnic and had gotten caught in a terrible storm. He and Cooper had been standing on the front porch and he looked through the window to see Lily helping Althea clear the kitchen table and tend to baby Jane. The feeling that he was looking through a window to his future had been both overwhelming and welcome, just as it was now.

"You can't eat that," Lily laughed, pulling the ribbon on her hat from Jane's chubby hands. "That's my ribbon! That's not for eating!" Jane laughed gleefully and grabbed for the ribbon she had been chewing, clapping her hands as Lily held the ribbon out of her reach.

"She's not the only one who's hungry," Judd chuckled as he nosed through the picnic hamper. "Mmm. Look at that! Everything looks delicious, Althea, especially that cake!"

"Uh-uh," Althea admonished, waving a finger at the blond deputy. "Get out of that hamper, Judd."

"I told you, you should have packed a second hamper," Cooper teased. "I've seen that boy eat."

"Hey, hey," Judd feigned offense. "I just have a healthy appetite."

"You sure do, if you were a horse!" Cooper joked, drawing laughs from Lily and Althea.

* * *

The sound of horses soon broke the calm noontime air as the Coopers' homestead came into view. What was left of the burned house had been cleared away and the scorched ground yielded fresh, new green grass. New corrals had been built, each holding horses from newborn colts to full-grown equine beauties. Matt and Berkey had converted a small shed behind the barn into a warm and inviting bunkhouse. In one of the corrals, one of the men, the one Lily recalled as Berkey, was riding a bucking horse, trying to saddle-break it.

"That's it, that's it!" Matt shouted. "You almost have 'er. Hang on to 'er, Berkey! Hang on!"

Cooper pulled his own team of horses to a stop next to the barn and hopped down from the buckboard. He rounded the wagon to help Althea down as Judd handed baby Jane to her mother and then climbed out of the wagon and helped Lily to the ground.

"Looking good, Berkey!" Cooper called out. "You men are doing a good job with those ponies."

"Glad you boys found something better to do than play poker and drink whiskey," Judd teased. "I sure would hate to have to arrest you all the time."

"Aw, hell, Weaver, if you wouldn't have had to go showin' off and gettin' in that gunfight and becomin' deputy, you'd be right there with us, takin' our money and spendin' it on drink yourself," Matt ribbed back.

Althea and Lily exchanged smiles and Lily just shook her head. She heard plenty of their barroom teasing when the three friends spent their time at the saloon.

"Who's hungry? I brought plenty of food," Althea chirped cheerfully as she and Lily scoped out a shady place to spread a blanket. They chose a spot under a nearby tree and began to unpack the picnic hamper.

Althea had brought more than plenty of food. The thick slices of salty ham, flaky biscuits, vinegary cold bean salad, and fresh tomatoes from her kitchen garden made an inviting spread for the group of friends.

"Now don't forget to save room for dessert," Althea advised as she set out the spice cake Judd had been eyeing on the ride over from town. Everyone agreed that it tasted every bit as good as it looked and Judd, Matt, and Berkey each had seconds.

"Where did the horses come from?" Lily asked.

"We don't know," Cooper replied. "They aren't Indian horses, and they aren't branded. They didn't belong to the Army, either. We think they're wild and they just took a liking to the land here."

"We asked around to see if they belonged to anyone and nobody claimed them, so Berkey and I decided we'd round them up and at least keep an eye on them in case somebody came looking for them. Nobody did. So we decided to try breaking a few of them to ride. A few of them were real easy to break, but some of them? Won't be able to put a saddle on them at all," Matt explained.

"How many are there?" Lily wondered aloud.

"There were forty-three at first. We're down to thirty-six now. A few mares died birthing colts, a few were just old and sick, and we had to put one down just yesterday. Rattler spooked it and it reared. Broke its leg when it came down on it wrong," Berkey said with a touch of sadness to his voice. "That was a good horse, too. I sure hated to have to put him down."

"What are you going to do with them?" Althea asked.

"If nobody claims them, we can sell them. The Army seemed interested when Cooper asked if they were theirs," Matt replied. "Right now, we're just taking care of them, but eventually we'll be in business for ourselves and be in as good of shape as ol' Weaver here." Matt slapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Berkey, how about you and Matt show me how you've been doing with them," Cooper suggested, standing and nodding toward the corrals. Judd, Berkey, and Matt joined him and the men headed to the corrals.

Althea and Lily began to gather up the remains from the picnic and put everything away. After a few minutes, Judd returned.

"I thought you wanted to look at the horses," Lily said, smiling.

"I saw what I wanted to see. Let's take a walk. Looks like a pretty spot over by that creek." Judd pointed to a shady spot where some trees and wildflowers were growing.

Lily looked at Althea. She felt bad leaving their hostess alone. "Oh, no, go ahead. I think this little one needs a nap," Althea motioned to the sleepy child in her lap. "I'll be fine. Go on and enjoy yourselves."

* * *

"What a beautiful day," Lily announced, taking in the bright blue sky and warm sunshine.

"It is," Weaver replied. Remembering what Berkey had said about the rattlesnake that had spooked the horse, he stopped at the wagon and retrieved his pistol.

Together, Judd and Lily strolled along a path that led toward the creek. The late summer afternoon air was cooler there, and the green grass more lush. The creek bubbled and flowed, its lively song welcoming them.

"It sure is pretty here," Lily noted. "I can't imagine why Cooper and Althea would want to live in town when they have such a beautiful homestead out here."

"Can't really live this far from town and be the sheriff," Judd replied. "Cooper always says, though, that when his sheriffing days are over, he's coming back out here. Can't say I blame him. Can't say I blame him one bit."

"Me either. I'd love to live in a place like this."

"I would, too," Judd agreed. "A nice piece of land, a couple horses, a few head of cattle, maybe a dog, some chickens in the yard, and somebody to share it all with. That would be real nice."

Lily looked up at the tall, blond deputy with a puzzled look. "But I thought you liked being deputy sheriff."

"Oh, I do. I do. But it was never something I ever imagined doing. To be honest, I don't know what I ever really imagined myself doing. One day I'm playing poker in the saloon and doing odd jobs, picking up work as a ranch hand or driving cattle or whatever I felt like doing and the next, I get in a gunfight next to Hayes Cooper and he makes me deputy sheriff. I'm not going to argue with that kind of luck, Lily, but I sure didn't wake up that morning and plan that out."

Lily laughed to herself. She understood. It seemed to be the way things were in the west. Nobody planned their lives; their lives just happened for them and they bore the consequences. If you were lucky, you became deputy sheriff. If not, people made ugly comments about you in church. Suddenly, Lily's cheerful mood darkened. She picked up a couple of pebbles from the creek bank and tossed them one by one into the water.

Judd reached over and took Lily's hand. "You know what I always did imagine, Lily?"

"What?"

"I always imagined meeting somebody kind and warm and beautiful. Somebody just like you."

Lily bowed her head as she felt a blush warm her cheeks. "That's very kind of you, Judd" she smiled.

"I mean that, Lily."

"Thank you." Lily turned her head away to hide her embarrassment. It wasn't that she doubted Judd's words; she believed him but hearing him say such things – especially after what happened that morning – made her uncomfortable. Judd may not be a rich or well-educated man, but he was a good man. Would she ever get used to her luck?

They walked along in silence for a few minutes. Lily picked a couple of wildflowers growing along the creek and began to weave the stems together into a chain as they walked. Judd stopped and took both of Lily's hands in his.

"Lily?"

Lily looked up at him. For a moment, all sense of time and thought left him as he lost himself in her dark eyes. Judd bowed his head and covered her lips with the softest of kisses.

Looking into her eyes and holding her hands to his heart, Judd struggled to put into words what he had spent all morning thinking of. "Lily, would you, um… I… um… I know I'm probably not the kind of man you had your heart set on, but I love you, Liliana Westfall, and it would do me so proud if, um… Well… Lily, would you, would you marry me?"

Lily's breath caught in her throat. She had not been expecting this at all. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, Judd."

Lily blinked her eyes fiercely, silently willing away the tears.

"Judd, I do love you, I do. But I can't. I just can't. Please understand." Lily pulled away from the handsome deputy and ran down the path away from him as the tears that had threatened to betray her feelings began to fall.

* * *

Judd Weaver was confused. He had been courting Lily for several months now and while they never specifically discussed their future, he thought it was a mutual understanding that they would eventually marry and spend the rest of their lives together. Now he wasn't so sure that perhaps he had misunderstood. The only thing he was certain of was the pain in his heart that hurt worse than any pain he could ever imagine and the visions he had of his future – those glimpses he had looking through Cooper's window and while riding in the wagon that very morning – were fading away like fog dissipating on a sunny morning.

Judd followed the path Lily had taken to find her sitting on a fallen log next to the creek, her head buried in her hands. He could tell by the way her hunched shoulders heaved that she was crying, and as he listened, he could hear her sobs over the sound of the creek. Her tears only confused him more. Why was she so upset? Had he upset her by proposing? Had she really not wanted to say no? If that was the case, then why did she turn him down? There was no explanation and no other person he could think of that could possibly be her reason for telling him she couldn't marry him. Watching her cry made his heart ache even more and he longed to hold her and make everything right for her, but he knew he couldn't. She obviously wanted to be alone, so Judd stayed behind, hidden behind a willow tree.

As Judd watched Lily and listened to the rise and fall of her sobs, a new sound caught his attention. At first, he wasn't sure what it was, but as he listened, he heard it clearly: a constant buzzing that was there over the sound of the creek and the cicadas and the honeybees busily flying around the wildflowers. A movement on the ground next to the log Lily was seated on caught his eye and he realized in horror that it was the source of the buzzing noise. A rattlesnake coiled itself by the fallen tree, its head reared and ready to strike.

Judd leaped from behind the willow and pulled his pistol from its holster on his hip. "Lily!" he called sternly, hoping he wouldn't startle her. "Lily, don't move. Stay still."

Lily was suddenly aware of the sound of the rattlesnake next to her feet. She drew in a sharp breath but didn't move, frozen by Judd's command and by her own terror. Her heart pounded hard in her chest and her throat as she waited for the snake to strike.

A loud gunshot suddenly pierced the air and the snake flopped over on its back, its rattles silenced. Lily jumped up from the fallen tree and ran to Judd, embracing him, her tears soaking the front of his shirt.

"It's okay, it's okay, Lily," Judd held her and stroked her hair.

"You saved me," Lily hiccupped between sobs. "Thank you."

Judd placed a finger under Lily's chin and tilted her tear-streaked face up to his. "I'll never let anything happen to you Lily. Ever."

"I know," Lily replied. "I will always be grateful for that but I can't marry you. I'm so sorry, Judd. I'm so very sorry." A new wave of tears shook her petite frame as she broke free from Judd's grasp and started back to the barn and the wagon.

* * *

Hayes Cooper was watching Matt and Berkey try to saddle a wild mare when the lone gunshot echoed from the creek bottom. The mare bucked, knocking Berkey to the ground, and ran across the corral. All three men turned to look toward the direction of the creek.

"What the hell?" Berkey grunted, taking the hand Matt offered and standing up, dusting himself off. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know," Cooper replied as he headed to the wagon to gather his pistol. "Let's go take a look."

Under a cottonwood tree not far from where her house once stood, Althea sat on a blanket and brushed Jane's downy-soft blond curls out of her face as she napped. The sound of the gunshot broke the peaceful afternoon, and Althea clutched her sleeping baby to her breast as she leaped to her feet. Jane awoke with a howl, her face reddening with her loud cries. Looking across what had once been their lower pasture, Althea saw Lily running toward the barn. Judd Weaver was nowhere to be seen.

"Dear Lord," Althea prayed fervently. "Please let everything be okay."

Cooper, Matt, and Berkey met Lily as they headed toward the creek. "Where's Weaver?" Cooper asked.

Lily couldn't respond through her tears. She only pointed toward the creek. Fearing the worst, the three men ran in the way she directed. They found Weaver walking toward the barn, the dead rattlesnake in his hand.

"Weaver! What happened?" Cooper asked.

"There. There's your rattler." Cooper tossed the dead snake at Berkey's feet. Berkey jumped and then felt a bit foolish when he realized the snake was dead.

"What happened?" Cooper asked again.

"Rattler was wound up next to a log Lily was sitting on. I had to shoot it before it bit her," Weaver explained.

"So that explains why she was so upset when she ran by us," Matt mused.

"Yeah. I guess so," Judd replied dryly as he pushed by Matt and Berkey and walked slowly through the pasture toward the barn.

Berkey turned to watch him walk away, amused by his friend's strange behavior. "Ol' Weaver always had himself a way with the women, didn't he?" he cracked as he, Matt, and Cooper headed back to the barn and corrals.

* * *

The ride back to town was quiet, almost uncomfortably so. Lily held baby Jane in her lap but didn't seem to notice the baby girl chewing on her hat ribbons. If she did notice, she didn't seem to care, as she didn't bother to take the ribbons away from the tiny child. Every now and then, she'd bounce the little girl on her lap and elicit squeals and giggles from her, but Lily herself was quiet.

Across from her in the back of the wagon, Judd was also silent as he replayed the events of the afternoon in his mind, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong. It was the only reason he could figure for Lily's refusal; he had to have misstepped somewhere along the way. Courting had so many rules, he had come to find; surely proposing had its own set of rules, too, and he was bound to have broken a few of them. He had heard about men asking for a woman's hand in marriage. He hadn't asked anyone for Lily's hand because there was nobody in Bovine to ask and he had no idea how to contact any of her family back east. She never really talked about her family, so he didn't think breaking that rule mattered all that much to Lily. He had heard about men getting down on one knee to propose. He hadn't done that either. It was all he could do to get the words out, let alone think of kneeling on one knee. Surely, she wouldn't have been that upset over him not being on one knee, would she? That was a stupid rule anyhow, and Lily didn't seem to cater to stupid rules, so her refusal only made Judd even more confused.

The more confused Judd got, the madder he got. By the time they arrived back in Bovine, Judd was fuming and just wanted to sit in the saloon and drink the day's events out of his mind. He was pretty sure Cooper wouldn't appreciate his deputy sheriff getting drunk, so he decided to just walk Lily home and then go home himself to sleep off the funk he'd managed to put himself in.

Lily thanked Althea and Cooper for the afternoon, kissed baby Jane on the forehead, handed her back to her mother and allowed Judd to help her out of the wagon. They walked back to her house in silence.

When Judd left Lily at her door, she called out to him, "Judd?"

Judd turned to look at her. Just the sight of her felt like a gunshot to his heart.

"Judd, just because I can't marry you doesn't mean I don't love you."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"I do love you." Lily smiled slightly. Judd had spent so many nights trying to coax even that much of a smile out of her when she sang at the saloon. Tonight, though, that smile felt like a cruel joke.

"Goodnight, Lily." Judd tipped his hat and turned into the twilight.

* * *

That night, as Cooper and Althea readied for bed, Althea thought about the day. She had noticed the wagon ride home seemed very uncomfortable and the usual teasing banter between her friends had been replaced by a very tense silence.

"Cooper, did anything seem strange to you about today? I mean, about Lily and Weaver."

"Lily was pretty spooked about that rattlesnake," Cooper replied. "Weaver said it nearly bit her. That would scare anyone I'd think."

"No, there's something else. Something's wrong. I could feel it. Couldn't you?"

"Other than the snake spoiling the mood, I don't think anything was wrong. In fact, I know Weaver was planning to propose to Lily today," Cooper told his wife as he pulled his shirt off over his head.

"You didn't tell me he was going to do that!" Althea exclaimed. "If he did, though, Lily would have definitely said something. She didn't say a word about it."

"He probably chickened out," Cooper laughed. "I'll find out tomorrow. I'm telling you, Lily was just upset over that snake." Cooper turned down the oil lamp and then blew it out, darkening the room except for a band of moonlight that poured in through the window.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," he leaned over to kiss his wife.

"Goodnight, Cooper."

And I'll find out tomorrow what's really going on, Althea thought to herself as she snuggled next to her husband and closed her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Hayes Cooper got to the jail the next morning to find Judd Weaver already there and the coffee already brewing on the woodstove.

"You're here early, Weaver," Cooper noted, helping himself to a cup of coffee. Taking a sip, he grimaced. It was way too strong.

Weaver sat at the table, not seeming to mind the bitterness of his cup of coffee. "I couldn't sleep so I figured I'd just come in and get the fire going and the coffee on."

"Well, thank you for that," Cooper eyed his cup of coffee and set it down on the table, reminding himself to stop at the café on his morning rounds. "So, how did it go yesterday?"

"How did what go?" Weaver asked.

"You were going to ask Lily to marry you," Cooper reminded his deputy. "Or did you chicken out?"

"I didn't chicken out," Weaver snapped. "She turned me down."

Cooper nearly choked on his own breath. "What?"

"She said she couldn't marry me. Said she was sorry, but she couldn't."

"She gave you a reason, didn't she?" Cooper asked, puzzled. He couldn't believe Lily had turned down Weaver's proposal.

"No. No reason."

"Oh. That's really…. Weaver, I am so sorry," Cooper was at a loss for words.

"Yeah, me too," the young deputy finished his cup of coffee and stared into the bottom of the cup for a moment, as if it held all the answers he was searching for.

"Weaver, I am really sorry. I wish I knew what else to say. Look, why don't you take the day off. If something comes up that I need you, I'll send for you," Cooper said sympathetically. He was pretty sure Weaver didn't feel like sitting around the jail all day waiting for something to happen.

"I appreciate that, boss," Weaver stood and picked up his hat. "See you tomorrow." The tall, blond deputy stepped out of the jail, closing the door behind him.

Hayes Cooper picked up his cup and took another sip of the strong, black coffee, steeling himself for the bitter taste. He looked at the cup's contents and shook his head, thinking about what his deputy must be feeling. He settled his hat on his head and left the jail to make his morning rounds, hoping for a quiet day.

* * *

Althea Cooper thought about the stony silence between her friends Judd and Lily on the wagon ride back to town the day before and was convinced there was something wrong. She was going to find out what the problem was, not only to satisfy her own curiosity, but also to make sure her friends were okay. She fed and dressed her baby daughter and walked to Lily's house.

Lily answered the door, handkerchief in hand. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, and Althea knew she had been crying.

"Althea, what are you doing here?" Lily asked, surprised to see her friend at her door.

"I had a feeling last night that something was wrong, and I see I was right. Is everything okay, Lily? What's going on?"

Lily glanced nervously up and down the street before letting Althea inside. She offered her a seat at her kitchen table and spread a quilt on the floor for baby Jane.

"Can I get you a cup of tea?" Lily offered.

"Tea would be lovely. But please, only if it's no trouble," Althea replied.

"It's no trouble," Lily assured. "I could use some myself, I guess." She busied herself putting a pot of water on the woodstove, stoking the fire, and setting out teacups and tea and sugar.

"Lily, I couldn't help but notice, and please pardon my asking, but you and Judd were so quiet on the ride back to town yesterday. Did you have a falling out?" Althea asked gently.

"Oh, no, Althea. It was nothing like that," Lily sniffled as she poured the hot water into a blue and white teapot and brought the pot, teacups and tea and sugar to the table and began to prepare a cup of tea for her guest.

"Judd proposed to me yesterday."

"Oh, Lily! That is wonder –"

"I said no."

The spoon Althea was using to stir sugar into her tea clattered to the tabletop. "Lily! You didn't! Whatever on earth for?"

"I can't marry him, Althea. It's nothing to do with him. He's such a good man. It's me," Lily replied sadly.

Althea's eyes widened in surprise. Lily went on. "Look at what he's accomplished. He went from being a roughneck to deputy sheriff. People respect him now. And eventually, he'll be the sheriff here. But not if he marries me. If he marries me, people won't respect him anymore. They won't want him to be sheriff. I'll just hold him back. I'd do worse than that, Althea. I'll ruin his future. I'll ruin everything. And I love him far too much to let that happen." Lily dissolved into tears, burying her face in her hands.

Althea stood and rounded the table. She wrapped an arm around Lily's thin shoulders and hugged her. "Oh, Lily, you know that isn't true! You wouldn't ruin anything! If Judd wants to be the sheriff when Cooper decides he's done, Cooper will make sure he's the sheriff. You won't be holding anyone back!"

"Oh, but I would," Lily sobbed.

Althea pulled a chair around the table and sat down next to her friend. "Lily, does this have anything at all to do with what that insufferable Rose Tinsley said in church yesterday morning? Because let me tell you a little about Rose Tinsley. She just loves to hear herself talk, but most of the time she has no idea what she is talking about. And she has got to be the most unchristian, most horribly self-righteous woman I have ever met. She had no business going on the way she did yesterday. You can't let what she said bother you."

Lily dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. "It's not just Rose Tinsley. It's other people in this town, too."

Lily told Althea how not long after she started singing at the saloon, she had stopped at the general store. She needed a needle and thread and some buttons to mend a dress. The storekeeper had watched her like a hawk as she sorted through a bin of buttons until finally, he ordered her out of the store. When she told him she needed buttons and thread, he told her to send a list and money and he'd have somebody drop her items off to her at the back door of the saloon.

"It's still that way, Althea. I've never done a thing wrong, but I'm not welcome in that store. Just last week, I needed a few things, so I sent a list and my money, and he took two days to get everything to me. He left everything on the edge of my porch in the rain. I ordered sugar, Althea, and he let it sit out in the rain. It all melted, and the fabric I ordered to make a new skirt was all watermarked and ruined."

"That's terrible!" Althea exclaimed. She couldn't believe the same shopkeeper who was always so kind to her was so mean to Lily.

"And every time I go to the dressmaker, she's either too busy or just getting ready to close up shop for the day, no matter what time of the day it is. I saw a lovely dress in the window and I wanted her to make it for me. I even made it easy for her. I bought the fabric and took it to her. She told me to come back in a week and she'd take my measurements. The morning I was on my way back to the dress shop, I saw a woman wearing a dress made from the material I had taken to her for my dress! When I go to the bank to deposit the receipts from the saloon, people there look at me as if they've smelled something bad. Except for Mr. Tinsley, of course. He's happy to see me. But everybody else can't get out of there fast enough."

"Oh, Lily," Althea took her friend's hands in hers. "I had no idea! People in this town should respect you! Why, next to the general store, you own one of the most prosperous businesses in town!"

"That doesn't mean anything," Lily said, her voice tinged with both anger and dismay. "To them, I'm nothing more than a saloon girl, even though all I ever did in that saloon is sing. If they even knew you were at my house, sitting here at my kitchen table, Althea, and bringing baby Jane here, too, why, it would absolutely ruin your reputation in this town."

"Enough of that. I know you are a good, kind-hearted person, Lily, and I'm proud to call you my friend," Althea replied, her voice stern but sympathetic. "I'm not worried about what other people think, and you shouldn't be, either. Bovine is your home and you belong here. It's time these people realized it."

"How are they going to do that?" Lily asked, confused.

"First of all, we're going to drop by Sarah's dress shop and see about her taking your measurements for that dress you wanted. And then, we're going to stop by the general store and straighten things out about that order of sugar and fabric and make sure they know that when you need something, you'll be stopping by to pick it up. No more of this sending a list and money. You'll get an account. You own a business here, you should have credit. And then, you're going to call on a certain deputy sheriff."

Lily's eyes grew wide, "Oh, I don't know, Althea."

"Lily, do you love him?"

"Yes, I do, with all my heart!"

"Do you want to marry him, Lily?"

"Of course I do, more than anything! But –"

"No buts. You're going to stop by the jail and see him and straighten everything out."

* * *

Judd Weaver hadn't spent much time in the Red Ox Saloon since being made deputy sheriff. Before that day, the saloon had been his second home. He, Matt, and Berkey had spent more than their share of time there playing poker, drinking, and, in Weaver's case, trying to catch Liliana Westfall's eye. While most of the men who frequented the saloon liked listening to the pretty brunette sing, Judd was simply smitten with her from the moment he first saw her. The singing was just icing on the cake.

Since Cooper had given him the day off, though, and since Weaver was still in quite a funk from trying to figure out why Lily had turned down his proposal, he decided that today would be a good day to visit his old stomping grounds. He wasn't too worried about running into Lily. She usually had Stan count up the till for her and she'd stop in late in the afternoon to pick up the receipts that needed to go to the bank. Judd planned to be out of the saloon and on his way home long before then.

Judd found an open spot at the bar and dropped a few coins on the polished wood.

"Whiskey, Stan."

"Weaver! Haven't seen you in ages! What brings you in here today?" the barkeep asked as he set a glass in front of the blond deputy and poured it full of whiskey.

"Cooper gave me the day off today, so I thought I'd drop by and see how things have been going around here."

"The day off, huh? Good for you," Stan nodded his approval. "You taking good care of our Lily? We sure do miss her singing around here. Prettiest voice I ever heard."

Judd gave a half-hearted smile and finished the glass of whiskey in front of him. He dropped another few coins on the bar and Stan refilled the glass.

"You are still sparking Miss Lily, aren't you?" Stan asked, concerned.

"I guess that depends on Lily," Judd replied, taking a drink of the amber liquid and welcoming the familiar warmth in his throat and stomach.

"Oh?" Stan gave him a puzzled look.

"I asked her to marry me, Stan, and she turned me down."

"Why would she do that?" Stan asked.

"I wish I knew, Stan. I sure wish I knew." Judd fished in his pocket for a few more coins.

Stan filled Judd's glass one more time and pushed the remainder of the whiskey bottle across the bar to him. "That's on me," he told the young deputy. "I think you could probably use it."

Judd finished the glass of whiskey and refilled his glass from the bottle Stan had given him. He was lost in thought and almost the whole way through the bottle when the cowboy next to him spoke up.

"I'd say you lucked out, Weaver. Nobody really marries a saloon whore."

Judd set his glass down on the table and looked over at the man. He didn't know his name, but he had seen him in the saloon a few times before.

"What did you just say?" Judd asked.

"I said nobody marries a saloon whore."

Weaver reached over and grabbed the cowboy by the collar. "Don't you ever call her that again!" he growled.

"I'm only sayin'," the cowboy snarled back. "What else do you call a girl who sings in a saloon in exchange for drinks and pokes?"

Judd punched the cowboy in the mouth and sent him staggering backwards into a table of cowboys playing cards.

"You mind your damn mouth," Weaver yelled. The cowboy shook off the impact of the punch, gingerly touching his fingers to his lip and finding blood. He kicked pieces of the broken table out of the way as he regained his feet and stood and lunged. The cowboy punched Weaver in the gut, only for Weaver to grab him by the shoulders and throw him against the bar, sending glass flying and shattering.

"You asked for it," the cowboy hissed, pulling a knife from under his jacket. Weaver grabbed the whiskey bottle he had been working on emptying and smashed the bottom of it against the bar. Holding it in front of him, he and the cowboy circled each other. The cowboy jabbed the knife at Weaver, who dodged it and slashed at the cowboy with the broken bottle, cutting him across the arm and drawing blood.

"Damn you, Weaver," the cowboy spat, raising his knife and charging toward Judd in a fury. Judd grabbed the cowboy by the wrist and the shoulder, holding him off until he threw him backwards onto a table surrounded by a group of men and a couple of the saloon girls. The table and cowboy crashed to the floor while the men scattered and one of the girls screamed. The cowboy struggled to get up, grabbing for the gun in his holster.

Stan called one of the other girls over to the bar. "Ophelia, run and get the sheriff. Tell him we have trouble down here."

* * *

When Lily stopped at the saloon to pick up the weekend's receipts to take to the bank, she was surprised to find the aftermath of Judd's fight with the cowboy. Stan was cleaning up the remnants of the broken tables while three of the saloon girls were busy sweeping up broken glass, wiping off the bar, or picking up playing cards that were scattered across the floor.

"What happened here?" Lily asked, surveying the damage.

"Weaver and a cowboy got into a fight," Stan groused, dragging a broken table top across the floor to the saloon's back door.

"Judd?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"He was defendin' your honor," Angeline piped up in a syrupy southern drawl.

"He was," Ophelia agreed, looking up from wiping spilled whiskey from the bar. She rested her chin on her hand and a dreamy look fell across her cherubic face. "It was so romantic. I wish somebody would defend my honor like that."

"Hmpf," Lucie snorted, slapping a handful of bent and wrinkled playing cards on the bar next to Ophelia, making her jump. Lucie was the oldest and most jaded of the girls at the Red Ox. "Don't waste your wishes, Ophelia. Ain't a one of us besides Lily that has any kind of honor worth defendin'. And besides, ain't nothin' romantic about a couple men gettin' in a fight and bustin' up tables and glasses and bleedin' everywhere."

"What happened?" Lily asked again.

"Had to send for the sheriff to break it up," Stan replied. "He took Weaver and the cowboy down to the jail."

Lily looked at Stan with a raised eyebrow. Without another word, she gathered up the receipts from the weekend and turned on her heel and left.

* * *

Althea Cooper stopped by the jail on the way home to see if her husband was around. Hayes Cooper was sitting on a chair outside the jail, looking annoyed. When he gave his deputy the day off, he never expected him to get drunk and get into a fight at the saloon. The kid was young and nursing a broken heart, so Cooper tried to be understanding. That didn't mean he couldn't be irritated, though, and he definitely was.

"Good afternoon, sweetheart," Althea greeted her husband with a kiss. Baby Jane squealed in her arms and reached for her father. Cooper squeezed one of Jane's plump little hands and kissed the baby on the forehead.

"Althea! Are you and Jane out for a walk?"

"Not exactly. I went to visit Lily. Cooper, I knew something was wrong last night and now I feel just awful," Althea shook her head sadly, her blond ringlets swaying underneath her bonnet.

"Why?" Cooper asked. "What happened?"

"Well, Judd asked Lily to marry him, and Lily told him no."

"So I heard," Cooper said.

"But that's not the worst of it! A big part of why Lily said no is because of that awful Rose Tinsley and the way she was going on in church yesterday. Poor Lily is convinced that by marrying Judd, she is going to ruin his future. She's afraid she's just not good enough for him, and I feel just terrible. If I hadn't invited them to church yesterday, none of this would have happened," Althea cried in dismay.

"That's certainly something," Cooper agreed.

"I told Lily that was complete nonsense and she needed to straighten things out with Judd. Has she been here?" Althea asked hopefully.

"No, but I did give Weaver the day off. Given what happened, though, I'm pretty sure they haven't talked," Cooper replied.

"Why? What happened?"

"Weaver spent a good part of the day at the saloon drinking and ended up getting into a fight. I had to bring him in a little while ago."

"That can't possibly be so," Althea glared at her husband.

"He's in there," Cooper gestured over his shoulder with his thumb, "Sleeping it off. I guess I can't be too upset, though. Stan the barkeeper told me he was defending Lily's honor. I'd probably do the same thing if I were a drinking man," Cooper winked at his wife.

Althea peered through the jailhouse doorway. Sure enough, Judd Weaver was sleeping on a cot in the first cell. Cooper hadn't closed the door on the cell, so Judd was free to go when he woke up. In the second cell, a cowboy sat on the cot, holding a wet rag against his lip. He glanced up at Althea and pulled his hat down over his eyes, settling himself against the wall.

As if on cue, Weaver stirred in his sleep and opened his eyes. He rubbed his hand over his face and groaned, sitting up slowly. He picked his hat up off the floor next to the cot and slowly stood. He was startled when he saw Althea standing just inside the doorway.

"Hi, there, Miss Althea," Weaver said sheepishly. "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Hi, Judd," Althea shifted the baby in her arms. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Weaver hung his head and toyed nervously with the hat in his hands. "Cooper already warned me, and I'm going to pay for all the damages. It won't happen again. I promise."

"Oh no, Judd. It's not about that. It's about Lily," Althea smiled sympathetically. "Come here and sit down." She motioned to a chair at the table.

Judd sat down, still nervously twirling his hat in his hands. "Is Lily okay?"

"She's fine," Althea replied. "I talked to her this morning. I know you proposed to her, and I know she turned you down."

Judd took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He really didn't want to talk about this anymore today.

"I know why she turned you down, Judd, and I thought you should know."

Althea had Weaver's full attention. He listened carefully as Althea explained what Lily had told her: how she was so afraid that she would ruin Judd's chances at becoming sheriff and destroy his future if he married her and how most of it came from how people in the town treated her because she started out as a singer at the saloon. She told him how what happened in church the day before only made things worse and that Lily felt she wasn't good enough for him.

When Althea finished, Judd sat back in the chair with his shoulders slumped and a sad look on his face.

"I had no idea she was so worried about that, Miss Althea. Truth is, none of that matters to me. All I care about is being with Lily. That's all I want."

"Then you should tell her," Althea said. "I think she needs to hear it from you."

"You're right," Judd agreed, "But do you think she'll listen to me?"

"I think she will," Althea reassured. "All you can do is try."

"I guess you're right," Judd said wistfully as he stood and put on his hat. "It's not like I have anything to lose. Thank you, Miss Althea." The tall, blond deputy strode out of the jailhouse and down the street.

* * *

Lily returned home to find Judd Weaver sitting on her front porch. As she approached, he stood and took off his hat.

"Hi, Lily."

Lily looked him up and down suspiciously. "I heard you tore up my saloon."

"I guess I did. I'm really sorry about that, Lily. I'll cover the damages, and I promise it won't happen again," Judd rubbed his hand across the back of his neck trying to hide the blush that was creeping up from his collar.

"I heard you did it defending my honor," Lily said.

"That's true. I did."

"Well, it doesn't feel right making you pay for damages if you were defending me," Lily gave Judd a slight smile, which he returned. She sat down on the edge of the porch and motioned for him to join her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Althea came to see me this afternoon," Judd explained.

"She was here to see me this morning."

"I know. She told me. She told me what you said, why you won't marry me."

Lily let out a long sigh and looked away. "I wish she hadn't done that, Judd."

"Why, Lily? I'm glad she told me." Judd got up from the porch and knelt in front of Lily, taking both her hands in his. "Lily, I love you and I don't care what people in this town think. If it came down to choosing between you and being sheriff, I'd choose you every single time."

Lily looked at him and looked down, feeling a blush warm her cheeks.

"Lily, this is your home. This is where you belong. Here," Judd held his hand over his heart, "and here in this town. No matter what anybody thinks or says. This is where you belong."

As Lily looked up to meet Judd's ice-blue eyes, her own eyes filled with tears. "I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be," she whispered.

Making sure he was properly on one knee this time, Judd took both of Lily's hands in his again. "Lily, would you marry me?" he asked solemnly.

Lily threw her arms around the handsome deputy's neck, her tears turning to laughter as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

Judd pulled back to look at the pretty brunette. "So, is that a yes?"

"Of course it is." Lily barely finished her reply before Judd silenced her with a long kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

Seamus O'Toole was not in a good mood. Not that that was anything new. He couldn't remember the last time he was in any kind of a mood he'd consider good. He was tired of riding, tired of Brady's nearly endless chatter about nothing in particular, tired of hunting rabbits for food, and he was especially tired of not having any money. The burly Irishman had done pretty much everything from searching out deserters for both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War to bounty hunting after the war. He tried his hand at the faro tables in New Orleans and lost much more than he'd won and then drifted west, looking for whatever means he could to make a few dollars without having to put much effort into it. Brady tagged along for the ride. O'Toole didn't know if Brady was his first name or his last and he didn't care. They had met up while trailing deserters in Virginia. Most of the time he wished Brady would just ride off on his own, but he had gotten used to the man's company. He was pretty handy with a knife and his hunting skills were good enough to keep the two men from starving, so O'Toole let him ride along and didn't say anything about how much he was getting on his nerves.

That day, though, O'Toole told him.

"Brady, would you shut yer damn hole? I ain't heard myself think for the last ten miles," O'Toole growled in his thick Irish brogue.

"I'm just sayin', I could use a good hot meal, a nice bed, and a soft woman to keep me company, and maybe not in that order," Brady complained.

"Aye, and you won't get any of it because we ain't got no money, so it's rabbits for supper and rocks for a bed and whatever woman you dream of in yer sleep. Now shut up and let me do some thinkin'," O'Toole groused.

Brady opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it. He'd seen plenty of O'Toole's bad side since they'd met up in Virginia and he'd learned early on that was not a place he wanted to be. O'Toole could be plenty mean when he was irritated and downright murderous when he was angry, and Brady learned quickly that staying on O'Toole's good side, while not easy, was in his best interests.

O'Toole brought his horse to a stop under a small grove of trees along a creek and surveyed the area. Before long, some movement in the tall grass caught his eye. A pair of rabbits hopped playfully around each other. O'Toole motioned for Brady to keep still, and with an eye on the rabbits, he pulled his rifle from its scabbard and took aim. With a crack of the rifle and a puff of smoke, one of the rabbits fell to the ground.

"We'll make camp here," O'Toole growled. "Go grab that rabbit," he ordered Brady. He unsaddled his horse and tied the tired animal to a low branch, turning his ear to the east to make out the sound of hoofbeats. He stayed behind his horse but drew his pistol, just in case.

The hoofbeats grew louder. There were several riders from what O'Toole could tell, and they were coming up fast. He hoped Brady would take his time finding that rabbit. All he needed was that simple fool running his mouth. A small group of Army soldiers came up on the campsite. The leader waved his hand, nodding as the group rode by.

Later that evening as the two men feasted on rabbit cooked over a campfire, O'Toole had an idea. From his calculations, they weren't far from Fort Concho **.** He knew at some point a stage would be coming through carrying the payroll for the soldiers stationed at the fort, probably around the end of the month, as he recalled the number of soldiers who used to frequent the saloons and dance halls in New Orleans around the first of every month. That was only a week or so away. They'd camp out along the trail and watch for the stage, ambush it, and steal the money. Given the number of soldiers he estimated to be at the fort, it ought to be a pretty hefty sum. O'Toole chuckled to himself. He'd split the money with Brady, not fifty-fifty of course; maybe more like seventy-thirty, although eighty-twenty or less was more to O'Toole's liking, and send him on his way. He'd finally be rid of the man and, while he wouldn't be wealthy, he'd be a damn sight better off than he was now. And he wouldn't eat rabbit for supper anymore, that was for sure.

That night, as O'Toole listened to Brady snore as they slept by what remained of their campfire, he thought through his idea several times, plotting and honing until he was sure his plan was foolproof and he would be able to pull it off without a hitch. He could almost taste the whiskey, steak, and the sweet kiss of the woman he planned to have once the heist was over and the money was securely in his pocket. He grinned to himself as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the day soon that his roaming and wandering to make a living would be over for good.

* * *

"No! Absolutely not!" Lily cried adamantly. She looked up at Judd Weaver, her deep brown eyes filled with tears. Judd had just mentioned they should talk to the pastor at the church in Bovine and see about setting a date to be married.

"But Lily, I thought you wanted to get married!" Judd was bewildered. It seemed to him, between all the rules of courting and proposing and now, apparently, getting married, he just couldn't get things right.

"I do, Judd, but not in that church. Not after how they treated me there." Lilly recalled the day they had gone to church with Hayes and Althea Cooper and her shame at being the subject of Rose Tinsley's malicious words and the whispers of others.

"But Lily," Judd began.

"No, no, no." Lily stamped her feet, her hands on her hips. "Not in that church. There has to be some other way. Can't a judge marry us?"

"Well, of course a judge can marry us, but it could be a good six months before the circuit judge comes back to town," Judd took Lily's hands, trying to calm her. "Do you really want to wait that long, Lily? I know I don't."

Lily let out a long sigh and sat down at her kitchen table. "No. I don't. But I don't want to be married in that church, either. Anywhere but in that building, Judd."

Judd was quiet for several long moments before an idea came to him. "Would you still be okay with the pastor marrying us, Lily, if it's not in the church?"

Lily gave Judd a puzzled look but nodded her agreement.

"Good. I may have an idea. Let me go talk to the pastor and I'll let you know."

Judd returned late that afternoon, feeling rather proud of himself. He had spoken with the pastor who had understood Lily's apprehension about being married in the church and had liked Judd's idea for a wedding site. Judd couldn't wait to tell Lily.

"Lily, remember that spot along the creek where we went on our first picnic?" Judd asked, dropping the armload of firewood into the bin by the woodstove in Lily's kitchen. As most evenings, Judd ate supper at Lily's house, and that evening was no different. He lifted the lid off a pot of stew bubbling on top of the woodstove and breathed in the delicious aroma. Lily swatted at him with a dishcloth.

"You just can't wait a few minutes until that is ready, can you?" she teased. "I remember that spot along the creek. I was scared nearly to death when White Wolf showed up and we almost got washed away when the storm came."

"Well, other than the storm and the visit from White Wolf, what do you think about that place?" Judd caught Lily around the waist with one arm and planted a kiss on her temple.

"It was beautiful there. Why do you ask?"

"What would you think about getting married there?" Judd asked hopefully.

Lily's dark eyes lit up and she nearly danced with glee. "There? That would be perfect!" She threw her arms around Judd's neck and kissed him full on the lips. "What a wonderful idea!"

"I talked to the pastor today. He understood why you didn't want to get married in the church and he liked the idea of marrying us by the creek. He told me to just let him know when and said he'd be happy to do it," Judd explained excitedly.

A million thoughts ran through Lily's head. She needed to talk to Althea, and she'd love to have a new dress to wear. It didn't have to be a fancy wedding dress like she used to see women wear back east, but she wanted something special and pretty. She wished her family could be there for the wedding, but she knew that wasn't possible. Not long after arriving in Bovine, she had written letters home that had gone unanswered and unreturned. Even if she still had family left, there wouldn't be enough time for them to make the trip west. In a way, it made her feel sad. She'd be getting married with no family there to walk her down the aisle or stand up for her.

* * *

"Lily, that dress is beautiful!" Althea gushed. Lily and Althea were at Sarah Plummer's dress shop where Sarah was making the final adjustments to Lily's wedding dress. Lily had decided to have one of her dresses remade into a special dress for her wedding day.

"Thank you, Althea," Lily twirled in front of the mirror, amazed at Sarah's transformation of the dress she had given her. Sarah had replaced the ruffled neckline and sleeves with lace that draped softly and elegantly off of Lily's slim shoulders. She had covered alternating panels of the very pale pink bodice with the same lace and had replaced the hook and eye closures with tiny pearl buttons and delicate fabric loops. The full skirt was remade into a cutaway overskirt that fell softly over three layers of lace ruffles that swayed gently with every move Lily made.

"My goodness," Lily breathed as she stopped in mid-twirl to stare in disbelief at the mirror image staring back at her. "Sarah, this is fit for a queen!"

"I have to admit, it's some of my best work," Sarah Plummer blushed. "I don't often get a chance here in Bovine to make a dress like this, what with the dust and all, so it was a pleasure. And I'm glad you gave me a second chance, Miss Lily. I'm glad Miss Althea convinced me to give you a second chance."

When Lily mentioned to Althea she might want to have a wedding dress made, Althea went straight to Sarah Plummer's dress shop and told her that Lily Westfall might be paying her a visit to have a wedding dress made and that Lily was not going to take no for an answer. Sarah was to make that dress or Althea wouldn't have another stitch sewn in Sarah's shop ever again, not for herself and not for her daughter, either. A few days later, Lily dropped by Sarah's shop with a pale pink dress that she thought might make a beautiful wedding gown with the addition of a little lace here and there. Sarah's eyes nearly popped at the sight of the beautiful dress and she would have found it difficult to say no even without Althea's threat. She quickly sketched out an idea and showed it to Lily, who was instantly in agreement.

"And the best thing about it," Sarah added as she adjusted the lace draping at the neckline, "this can be your something old and your something new."

"All you need is something borrowed and something blue," Althea chimed. "You can wear the veil I wore when I married Cooper, and we'll tie your bouquet with a blue ribbon. You'll be all set."

Lily beamed with delight. When she had asked Althea if she would stand up for her, it was partly because she really had nobody else in Bovine to do it. Althea had proven herself time and time again to be a true friend, though, and Lily knew that she had made the right choice.

"There," Sarah Plummer snipped the final thread and tucked away her needle. The last adjustments were done and she was finally satisfied with how Lily's dress fit. "Best wishes on your wedding, Miss Lily."

"Thank you, Sarah, and thank you for creating such a beautiful, beautiful dress," Lily replied as she remained awestruck in front of the dress shop mirror, giving one last twirl to admire Sarah's work and her reflection.

* * *

"Cooper, can I ask you a question?" Judd Weaver and Hayes Cooper were sitting in front of the jail enjoying the sunshine and pleasant weather.

"Let me guess. You need to borrow my wagon to take wedding guests out to the creek the morning of the wedding," Cooper smirked.

"How did you know about that?" Weaver asked, taken aback. He had been planning to ask Cooper about borrowing his wagon, but that wasn't what he wanted to ask.

"I was talking to Feeney earlier today. He said you were using both his wagons the day of the wedding to take wedding guests out to the creek. Pretty good idea, actually." Cooper leaned back in his chair, tilting it back on two legs to lean against the side of the jail. "So yes, you can take my wagon, too."

"Well, thank you, Cooper, but that wasn't what I was going to ask."

"Oh? What were you going to ask?"

"I know I'm asking a lot, Cooper, but would you stand up for me when I marry Lily?" Judd asked nervously. It wasn't all that long ago that he and Cooper had gotten off to a pretty rocky start and he was sure Cooper hadn't forgotten those days.

"Of course I would, Weaver. It would be an honor," Cooper nodded his head in approval.

"I'm the one that's honored, Cooper," Judd Weaver could barely contain his excitement, or the grin that spread across his face. "And Cooper?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

The wedding was still several days away, but Judd Weaver could already feel the butterflies in his stomach. He wanted to ask Cooper if he was that nervous when he married Althea, but he thought better of it. It took enough nerve to ask him to stand up for him. Weaver wasn't about to ask him any more questions.

"You nervous?" Cooper asked.

Damn, Weaver thought. He didn't know how his boss and friend managed to do it, but he could swear that Cooper could read minds.

"Does it show?" Weaver asked.

"It doesn't have to. You're marrying a beautiful woman. If you weren't nervous, I'd say you were crazy," Cooper replied.

"Well, then, I'm nervous," Judd replied

"Good."

Weaver thought again about asking Cooper if he was nervous when he married Althea.

"I was scared to death when I married Althea."

Weaver looked at Cooper. How the hell does he do that, he wondered to himself.

"Scared to death," Cooper repeated. "But marrying that woman was the best thing I ever did. You'll see what I mean." Cooper gave Weaver a wink and a grin.

Weaver was sure he already did.


	5. Chapter 5

When Brady woke up, O'Toole already had the fire stoked and coffee on. Apparently they weren't moving on today, either, as O'Toole didn't appear to be in any hurry to break camp. He was sitting next to the fire, heating something in the coals. Brady hoped it was a rabbit as his stomach growled loudly. His hope turned to disappointment when O'Toole pulled what looked to be his spur out of the fire and began hammering at it with a rock.

"If hunting is so bad you have to eat your spurs, maybe we ought to move on," Brady groused.

"We ain't movin' on. If yer that hungry, go kill yerself a rabbit," O'Toole growled.

Brady watched him pound away at the thin metal. O'Toole hammered at it until he managed to break off a triangle which he held up and inspected. Brady noticed he had a couple more triangles sitting on the ground next to him.

"What's that for?" he asked curiously.

"You ask too many questions. I thought you were going to kill a rabbit," O'Toole snarled.

"Okay, okay," Brady picked up his gun and headed off.

"Before you go, give me yer spurs."

"What the hell for?"

"Because I said so," O'Toole hissed. "Now give me yer damn spurs."

Brady took off his spurs and threw them in O'Toole's direction. "I don't know what you want them for, but there." He took off into the high grass to look for rabbits.

When Brady returned with two fat hares, he found that O'Toole had gathered some hollow reeds from the creek bed and had pounded out several more metal triangles from Brady's spurs. He was grinding the pieces of metal against a rock to sharpen them. Brady watched as he bound a sharpened triangle to one of the hollow reeds to fashion an arrow.

"I need you to shoot me a couple birds," O'Toole said, not looking up from what he was doing.

"You're making arrows? What do we need arrows for?"

"I have a plan. We're going to pretend to be Indians." O'Toole filled Brady in on most of his idea, leaving out the part about the Army payroll. He made it sound like they would be robbing the stagecoach passengers of their money and valuables after ambushing them. "Now, go get me that bird," O'Toole finished.

Brady walked off along the creek with his gun in hand. He didn't like O'Toole's plan and he was pretty sure there was more to it than what O'Toole told him. What's more, he had the feeling that he was getting the short end of an already short stick. Brady decided he would make sure to get his share of O'Toole's half-cooked scheme and then he would go on his own way. He was tired of the irritable Irishman bossing him around all the time.

* * *

"Althea, could you help me with this?" Lily held up the veil she borrowed from her friend. "Berkey will be here with the wagon soon."

Althea Cooper pinned the veil onto Lily's dark locks and arranged it so it would hang straight. Standing back, she admired her work.

"Well?" Lily asked hopefully.

"You look simply beautiful," Althea gushed. "Judd won't be able to take his eyes off of you!"

They were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Ladies?" Berkey called out. "Are you ready? I promised Weaver I'd get you there on time."

Lily took one last look in the mirror, pinching her cheeks for color and smoothing Althea's borrowed veil over her hair. She picked up her blue-ribbon-wrapped bouquet and headed out the door with Althea right behind her.

Riding in the wagon to the wedding site, Lily was filled with excitement and anticipation. She smiled and hummed to herself as she took in the fall sky every bit as brilliantly blue as her soon-to-be husband's eyes and the wildflowers blooming along the dusty track to the creek. The butterflies that danced from blossom to blossom seemed tiny in comparison to the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach.

"Sure is a pretty day for a wedding, Miss Lily," Berkey noted.

"It certainly is," Lily agreed.

"Weaver was like a bag of those fancy Mexican beans this morning," Berkey chuckled. "He's so excited he just can't stand himself." The thought drew laughs from Lily and Althea.

* * *

Judd Weaver was already at the wedding site with Hayes Cooper, Pastor Gibson, and a jovial group of wedding guests. Weaver stood with Cooper and the pastor at the front of the group, waiting for Berkey to arrive with Althea and his bride. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, turning his hat in his hands with nervous anticipation. Had he known he would have been so nervous, he would have stopped by the Red Ox first for a celebratory glass of whiskey to steady his hands and calm his stomach.

The sound of horses broke the late morning air as Berkey steered the wagon over a small crest to the creekside wedding site. Judd could just catch a glimpse of Lily's dark hair covered with a lacy white veil. He took a deep breath to settle his nerves and felt one more time for the golden wedding band in his vest pocket. Berkey pulled the wagon next to Cooper's rig and brought the horses to a stop. He helped Althea down first, and then Lily. Althea helped Lily straighten her dress and veil and then walked through the throng of guests to take her place in front of the pastor along with Cooper and Weaver.

Stan, the long-time loyal barkeeper at the Red Ox, stepped out of the crowd and offered his arm to Lily.

"You sure do make a beautiful bride, Miss Lily," he said, beaming with pride.

"Thank you, Stan," Lily blushed, "and thank you for giving me away. It means so much to me."

"Now, Lily, you know I think of you every bit as much my daughter as if you were born to me. I'm proud to do it and I'm happy you found yourself a good man," Stan gave Lily an approving smile. "Now, let's not keep that young man waiting!"

The moment Judd got his first look at Lily in her wedding dress, he gasped. She looked so radiant, so beautiful, he almost had to pinch himself to be sure he was not dreaming. She seemed to float to him on Stan's arm, and once in front of him, Stan kissed her on the forehead through her veil.

"I'm so proud of you Miss Lily," he said with a smile as Pastor Gibson asked who gave her to be married.

"I do," Stan answered proudly and then stepped into the group of guests.

Judd took Lily's hands and tried to focus on both the words Pastor Gibson spoke and every single moment of the service. He had always thought he'd be a bachelor all his life, but then he never really thought he'd meet anyone like Lily. He had always hoped, of course, but he never really thought it would happen. Now, here he was, convinced he was dreaming, and hoping he wasn't.

Lily listened as Pastor Gibson read from the Bible. As he spoke, the sound of a snapping twig by the creek caught her attention. From out of nowhere, White Wolf appeared, hidden from view from everyone but Lily by the tall grass on the creek bank. He smiled at her and held up a small bundle. He set the bundle on the ground and nodded to her and then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. Lily smiled to herself. She recalled the day she and Judd had come to the creek on their first picnic and how White Wolf had frightened her and how he had returned and had saved them from what could have been a terrible tragedy when the creek overflowed its banks in the storm. White Wolf was part of their story and she was glad he was there today. How he knew about the wedding, she didn't know; somehow Indians just knew things, she guessed, and she wished he would have stayed, but she was happy she saw him.

Pastor Gibson continued to speak, blessing the ring that Judd had produced from his vest pocket and slipped on her finger. Lily was surprised; she hadn't expected a ring. The pastor then pronounced them husband and wife, gave them his blessing, and told Judd to kiss his bride.

Judd had been waiting for that moment all morning. He had no idea wedding ceremonies could take so long. In actuality, the ceremony was only about twenty minutes long, but waiting for those final words, 'you may now kiss your bride,' felt like an eternity. He lifted the lace veil that covered Lily's face and wrapped an arm around her slim waist, pulling her toward him. With one finger under her chin, he tipped her face up to his and covered her lips lightly with his, kissing her softly and tentatively at first. Then, forgetting about the pastor, Cooper and Althea, and all their guests, he pulled her closer and tighter to him, kissing Lily hungrily as her arms wrapped around his neck. When Judd finally broke off the kiss, Lily smiled up to him, her eyes sparkling with happy tears.

"We're married," she whispered. "We're finally married!"

"Yes, we are," Judd replied, feeling his throat tighten with emotion. "We're together, Mrs. Weaver, and you are right where you belong." He bowed his head for one more kiss.

Pastor Gibson called for the guests' attention, letting them know there would be a picnic lunch in the grove behind the church and the wagons would be leaving shortly to take everyone back to town. Lily looked surprised.

"I didn't know about that!" She looked around at Althea and the rest of the guests to see who had arranged the picnic lunch. Stan stepped out of the group.

"The sheriff, Miss Althea, and I all wanted to do something special for you so we asked Minnie at the café if she would put together a picnic lunch after the service for you and Judd. It's our wedding gift to you, Miss Lily; we hope you both enjoy it."

As the guests filled the wagons to go back to town, Lily told Judd about White Wolf and the bundle he left at the creek bank.

"I wondered if he'd be here," Judd mused. "I have no idea how he knew, but you're right, Lily, Indians just seem to know these things."

Cooper overheard them and went to the creek bank to retrieve the bundle. It was a blanket tied shut with strips of rawhide. Judd opened it to find strings of beads and bundles of tobacco and sage.

"A Comanche wedding gift," Cooper noted. "White Wolf must have thought very highly of both of you to bring this."

"It was very kind of him," Lily said, fingering the strands of beads and admiring them. It was obvious they had taken quite a while to make and she was touched that White Wolf had shared his tribe's handiwork with them in honor of their wedding.

"I hear there's cake waiting back at the grove," Berkey announced. "Hop in the wagon, you lovebirds and let's go get some grub!" Lily and Judd and Cooper and Althea all laughed and climbed into the wagon to head back to town before Berkey's stomach got the better of him.

* * *

In the small grove of cottonwoods behind the church, Minnie and her son Jasper had set up a table straining with food and spread quilts on the ground for all the guests. The newlyweds and their friends could smell the delicious food before they even arrived at the grove. Minnie had prepared fried chicken, ham and gravy, biscuits, beans, and potatoes, and the centerpiece of the feast was a lavishly frosted white wedding cake.

Lily hadn't realized how hungry she was. She was so excited about the wedding that morning she hadn't eaten a bite and the sight of all that delicious food had her mouth watering. Minnie ushered her and Judd to the table, handing them plates and urging them to eat up. She and Jasper stayed busy filling glasses and directing guests back to the food-laden table for seconds and even thirds before announcing it was time to cut the wedding cake.

Lily and Judd had each taken their first bites of the airy cake topped with the sweet, sugary icing when Donner Grayson rode up, clinging with one arm to the neck of the horse he was struggling to sit on without a saddle. When he pulled the horse to a stop, he listed to the right and clutched at his shoulder. He had been riding hard; his horse was foamed with sweat. Grayson himself could barely sit up and his own shirt was drenched in sweat and blood.

"The sheriff. I need the sheriff," the stagecoach driver moaned in pain.

Cooper stepped out of the group of guests. "Grayson! What happened?"

"Indians! Indians raided the stage just east of town. Tried to… to outrun… Broke the axle and flipped the stage." Behind Cooper, the group of revelers gasped in shock and surprise. There hadn't been an Indian attack in anyone's recent memory. Murmurs ran through the crowd and a few of the guests shouted curses against the Comanches.

"Grayson, is everyone okay?" Cooper asked.

"Don't know…" Grayson's voice was growing weaker and blood ran from under his hand where he clutched at his shoulder. A broken arrow shaft stuck out from between his fingers.

"Somebody get the doc," Cooper ordered. "Feeney, you and Berkey get the wagons, we'll need them to bring the injured back to town."

Judd Weaver walked over to Cooper. "Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

"Weaver, I know it's your wedding day, but I could really use your help. At least help me get the passengers loaded onto the wagons and back to town and then you can start celebrating your honeymoon."

Judd looked at Lily, a remorseful look in his eyes. "Lily, honey, I'm so sorry, but I really should go. There's people hurt."

Lily was crestfallen, but fought to hide her feelings. She had, after all, just said 'I do' to a law man and she knew she'd have to expect him to go to the aid of people in need. She just hadn't expected it to happen on her wedding day.

"It's okay," she said, squeezing her new husband's hand. "Just be careful and hurry back."

"I will, I promise," Judd smiled and brushed a kiss across her lips. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

As Lily watched her husband mount up and ride off with Cooper, Althea came to her side.

"Welcome to the life of the wife of a law man," Althea said sympathetically.

Lily sighed. "Oh, Althea, I wish I'd have told him not to go."

"Do you really think he would have listened? You may as well have told the sun not to shine, Lily."

"Is it always this awful?" Lily asked.

"Not always," Althea answered, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Sometimes," she grinned, "sometimes it's worse!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you really think Indians raided that stage?" Weaver asked Cooper as they rode out of town.

"I don't know," Cooper replied. "If it was Indians, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Comanches. I don't know why a scouting party would raid a stagecoach, though. I just hope this doesn't get everyone in town all riled up to the point they get up a posse to go tearing up the Comanche camp. We haven't had trouble with the Comanches for years. I don't want to see any start now."

Everything was silent at the raid site. The stagecoach lay on its side, one wheel spinning lazily in the breeze. Two horses grazed on the tall prairie grass, seemingly unfazed by what had happened. The third horse lay unmoving next to the coach, its open and unblinking eye staring up at the riders as they came up to the site. Grayson had ridden the fourth horse to town. Passengers' belongings were scattered about; smashed trunks and slashed valises revealed the laces and ruffles of dresses, the pressed cuffs and collars of shirts. More clothing and papers were strewn about, dancing across the crash site with the early fall's prairie wind. The only thing missing was the people.

"Hello?" Cooper called out. "Anyone here?" He dismounted from his horse and slowly approached the upended stagecoach.

"Looks like we have a mess here, Cooper," Feeney noted.

"We sure do," Cooper agreed. "Why don't you see about tying those horses," Cooper motioned toward the two horses grazing several yards away. "Berkey, you and Matt take a look at this horse. See if you can get him up."

Cooper and Weaver rounded the stagecoach, looking for any signs of life.

"This one's bad, Cooper," Matt called out. "He's gonna need put down, damn it. Leg's broke in two places."

Cooper nodded. He felt bad that it had to be done, but he felt worse for Matt and Berkey. He knew how much the two men hated the waste of a good horse. He watched as Berkey shouldered his rifle; the single gunshot echoing across the empty prairie.

"I don't think we'll be needing the doc," Judd Weaver announced. He had climbed on top of the stagecoach to peer into the window to find a morbid sight waiting for him. Three of the passengers were still inside, two women and a little girl, all dead.

"Looks like they got thrown when the coach rolled," Weaver called out. "No, wait. They've also been shot." On closer inspection, he saw the bullet wounds. He had to look away when he saw that the little girl had been shot in the head. Who would do that to a little girl, he thought, his stomach protesting violently at the sight and the idea. Even after all the death and disease he saw during the war, children were by far the worst and the most upsetting.

"Shot?" Cooper echoed. "That doesn't sound like Indians to me. Besides, they'd be more likely to kidnap the women and the little girl."

More searching turned up the bodies of two more passengers - two men - and Pax Dodd, who rode with Grayson. All three had been shot with arrows, although it appeared Pax had been thrown from the stage when it overturned. One of the passengers had also been shot.

Weaver looked around and found an arrow sticking out of the ground. He tugged gently at it, dislodging it from its resting place, and studied it carefully.

"Cooper, take a look at this," Weaver held the arrow out for his boss and friend to inspect. "Since when did Indians begin using metal arrowheads?" he asked quizzically.

"Good question," Cooper replied. "And I've never known Indians to be such lousy shots with arrows that they needed to shoot their victims with guns, too. It definitely wasn't Indians that raided this stage."

Cooper began looking around, searching the ground. In the dusty track the stagecoach had been following, he found something.

"Weaver," he called to his deputy, "come here."

Judd Weaver walked over to where Cooper was kneeling along the track. There were hoof prints in the dusty ground.

"Horseshoes," Cooper noted. "Those weren't Indian ponies."

Weaver nodded. Indians never shoed their horses.

"And there were two riders." Cooper pointed out two different hoof prints. "One is a large man; he sits to the left in his saddle. You can see how the hoof prints are more defined and the shoes are worn here," he pointed to a print in the dusty ground, "and here. The other rider isn't as large of a man and he sits straight and tall in the saddle. His horse's hoof prints are all even, see?" Cooper gestured to another set of prints.

Weaver wouldn't have noticed the difference if Cooper hadn't pointed it out. He was amazed at what Cooper could tell from just a few hoof prints in the dust, but everything made sense.

Cooper stood. "Let's get the deceased back to town so the undertaker can bury them. Hopefully they haven't gone after White Wolf and his people by the time we get back."

* * *

Back in town, most of the wedding guests had drifted home and Lily and Althea were helping Minnie divide and box up the leftover food and cake and tend to baby Jane. Lily's elation about her wedding day had turned to melancholy after Judd left with Cooper to investigate the stagecoach raid and tend to the passengers.

"Oh, Lily," Althea wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders and gave her a squeeze, doing her best to cheer her up. Jane squirmed in her other arm, chewing on a half of a biscuit. "I know this isn't what you expected for your wedding day, but just think of the story you and Judd will have to tell your grandchildren one day."

"I suppose, Althea," Lily replied, not doing a very good job of hiding the disappointment in her voice. "Not too many brides get to see their husbands ride off right after their wedding vows because a stagecoach got raided by Indians."

Lily lost herself in thought as she helped Minnie package up the remaining chicken. Jane toddled over to Minnie, who had been tending to her all morning. Jane and Minnie had become fast friends once Jane realized that the slightest sound would bring attention and cuddles from the jolly black woman who seemed to have a never-ending supply of sweets at hand. Minnie picked the tiny child up and carried her off to find her a bit of cake.

"Althea?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"How do you manage it? Doesn't it bother you, Cooper running off to help somebody when you could use his help at home?"

Althea set aside the quilt she was folding and walked over to Lily. Taking her hands, she spoke kindly, "I admit I get upset sometimes and there have been more nights of cold suppers than I would like to admit, but Cooper is a law man. I tried to change that about him when we first got married, and he was fine with it for awhile, but being a lawman is what he is. It's in his blood and it's what makes him happy. I love him, and I love everything that makes him who he is. If you love Judd, and I know you do, you need to love this part of him, even if you don't like it."

Lily nodded, suddenly feeling very foolish for being so upset. Althea was right. Judd had a very strong sense of right and wrong and although he had never planned it, he was meant to be deputy sheriff and, one day, sheriff. If Lily meant to hold on to him, she would need to accept all that he was, even if it meant that he had to leave their wedding reception for a stagecoach raid. If she was truly honest with herself, underneath all that selfish sadness, Lily felt a bit proud. Not many women could claim to have a husband who would do such a thing.

* * *

Seamus O'Toole was in the worst mood he'd been in for a while. He'd been wrong and there was no army payroll on that stagecoach. In fact, there wasn't much of anything on that stage at all that was worth anything to speak of. One gold watch. There would have been two, but the second one took a bullet and was nothing but junk now. A locket with a picture of a soldier and a lock of hair. A few other baubles that he might be able to trade for a poke or two from a starry-eyed whore in town. As for money, though, all he found was a measly four hundred dollars. Surely those travelers should have had more money, he thought.

He hadn't expected the coach to come through so soon. They weren't even in position to ambush the stage when it rumbled by. They had to try to fire arrows on the run and the driver's partner and two of the passengers were able to fire back. The driver tried to outrun them and ended up flipping the coach on its side. That was the only thing that worked to O'Toole's advantage. The carefully-honed plan he had thought out in detail every night before falling asleep had fallen apart. He did not come away from the raid a rich man and what was left after he gave Brady his share of the four hundred dollars was not going to go very far, not when O'Toole favored his whiskey and women.

"I thought you said –" Brady began, clearly annoyed with the burly Irishman.

"You just shut yer damn hole," O'Toole snarled.

"But you said –"

"I told you to shut yer damn hole or I'll shut it for you," O'Toole pulled his pistol from its holster and pointed it in Brady's direction for emphasis. "I know things didn't go like I planned. It's all the goddamn stage driver's fault. The sonofabitch was early. If he was on time _like I had planned_ we would have got the jump on 'em."

"Maybe you just don't plan good, I'm just sayin'" Brady jabbed, sure that he was right.

"If you don't shut up, I'll shoot you after I give you yer share just so I can steal it from yer damn dead body. Now be quiet so I can do some thinkin'." O'Toole waved his pistol around wildly.

Brady thought twice before saying anything more. He had already pushed his luck enough with O'Toole; any more might land him in a grave, if O'Toole was inclined enough to dig one. Brady hadn't seen much of O'Toole's inclinations that didn't involve money, drinking, or whores, so he figured he'd be quiet lest he'd find himself laying dead somewhere on the prairie with buzzards picking at his bones.

After a few miles of silence, O'Toole seemed to calm down.

"Bovine is just a few miles west. We'll go get us some whiskey and maybe a woman or two, and check out the town. I'll come up with another plan. Maybe they have a bank we can rob." O'Toole announced matter-of-factly, nudging his horse and heading west with Brady following along.

* * *

As Lily was sorting her feelings and the women were finishing with cleaning up, the sound of giggles and voices drew Lily from her thoughts. Lucie, Angeline, and Ophelia appeared from behind the thickest stand of cottonwoods in the grove.

"Congratulations, Boss Lady!" Lucie chortled as the three women surrounded her.

Lily looked around at the group of women in surprise.

"Stan told us we could sneak off for a minute. It's quiet as church down there, anyhow," Ophelia said, answering Lily's question before she could even ask.

"And we wanted to bring you a wedding gift," Angeline thrust a brown-paper-wrapped package into Lily's arms. "Open it!" she commanded.

"Where's Judd?" Lucie asked, looking around and seeing no sight of Lily's handsome groom.

"He and the sheriff had to ride out. There was a stagecoach raid outside of town. Donner Grayson rode in to get the sheriff; he was in pretty bad shape. Sounds like it was really terrible," Lily replied.

"Your husband had to work on your wedding day! You poor thing!" Ophelia exclaimed.

"He'll be back just as soon as he can. He had to go and help Cooper, being the deputy and all," Lily responded defensively.

"Well, until then, open your present!" Angeline fussed impatiently.

Lily tore open the brown paper to find a beautiful quilt pieced in brightly-colored calico.

"Oh, my goodness! This is beautiful! Thank you so much!" she gushed as she ran her hands over the fine stitches and the brilliantly-hued fabric.

"I started that quilt years ago when I was married. It was almost done when, well, when I came to town. We all worked on it every chance we had to finish it up so it would be ready for your wedding. We wanted you to have something special," Lucie explained. Lucie had been married years ago. Her baby boy died of smallpox and shortly after, her husband was killed when a beam in their barn fell on him and crushed him. Lucie had tried unsuccessfully to keep their tiny farm and had come to town when the bank foreclosed on it. With no money and nowhere else to go, Lucie ended up at the Red Ox, where she had been ever since.

"Oh, Lucie, I couldn't take this, not with all this work you did on it" Lily suddenly felt bad.

"Yes, you can take it, and you will. That quilt deserves a happy home, and it belongs with you and Judd. Don't make me tell you twice, Boss Lady," Lucie teased.

"That's right!" Angeline chimed, "Or we just might go on strike!"

The group of women laughed as Lily hugged them in thanks.

* * *

All the food had been packed away and Lily and Althea were standing with Lucie, Angeline, and Ophelia as they waited for Minnie to return with baby Jane. They were lost in conversation and were only vaguely aware of the two riders as they came up behind them. It was nothing unusual; horses and riders were more than commonplace in Bovine.

O'Toole found the scene surprising. A bride, a nicely-dressed woman, and three saloon girls standing in a grove outside a church. He looked around and saw no men in sight. That was even more surprising. He dismounted and strode over to group of women, the villainous gleam in his eye matching the grin on his face.

"Well, well, well, what have we here," Seamus O'Toole growled. "Who leaves a bride alone on her wedding day? Lucky I came along, isn't it?" O'Toole leaned menacingly toward Lily and Althea, his hulking frame made more intimidating in proximity.

"You leave them alone," Angeline hissed. "Their husbands are the law here."

"Husbands? I see no husbands," O'Toole laughed. "I'll take these two, Brady," he motioned toward Althea and Lily. Pointing toward Lucie, Angeline, and Ophelia, he continued, "Round those three up. Take them all to the saloon. We're going to have us a little celebration."

Brady, the other half of the duo, and only about a head shorter and just a little less stocky, pulled his gun and held it on the three saloon girls.

"Start walking. And don't any of you try to run, or I'll put a hole in you I could saddle my horse through."

"Cool down, Brady. We ain't killin' anyone yet. We may need these women for bargaining chips once _the law_ gets back to town," O'Toole sneered, reaching out to stroke Lily's face and laughing as she jerked her head away in disgust.

"Don't be like that, little lady. We're going to be good friends when this is all over. Real good friends."

"Don't count on it," Lily spat at him. With no other options until Judd and Cooper got back to town, though, she and Althea followed Brady and the three saloon girls to the Red Ox.

Entering the saloon, O'Toole pulled his gun and shot in the air.

"Everybody out!" He shouted, waving his gun at the couple of tables of cowboys playing cards or drinking. It was early in the day, and the saloon wasn't crowded, otherwise somebody might have taken a shot at him. Instead, the cowboys looked up wearily from their cards and whiskey and were slow to get to their feet or move for their guns.

O'Toole shot in the air once again. "I told you all, get the hell out!" He released his grasp on Lily and moved to the nearest table that seated four cowboys in the midst of a poker game. With one hand, he reached over and upended the table. Cards and coins went flying and glass shattered on the floor. Stan, the barkeep, took advantage of the sudden chaos to reach for Clarence's short-barreled rifle from inside the top of the piano. He fired a shot that went wide and only angered O'Toole, who turned and fired back, hitting Stan in the shoulder. Stan fell behind the bar.

"Anyone else want to take a shot?" O'Toole looked around the room, waving his pistol wildly. The rest of the men in the room stood and filed out of the saloon.

"Well, then. That's more like it. Brady! Bring those women in here. You, Red," O'Toole pointed to Lucie, "Bring us some whiskey. We're going to have us a grand ol' soiree and celebrate this little lady's wedding!" O'Toole yanked a chair out from the table and sat down, pulling Lily roughly down onto his lap. With the gun still in one hand, he reached up with his other hand and pulled Lily's hair free from the pins that held it up, tearing off her veil in the process. He worked his meaty fingers through her dark locks until her hair was loose about her shoulders.

"There, that's better. I like yer hair down like that." Lily turned her head away. When she did, Althea could see the tears in her eyes.

Lucie returned from the bar with a bottle of whiskey and some glasses. She mouthed a silent "I'm sorry" to Lily. Lily gave her the slightest of nods in return.

"Pour it." O'Toole commanded, and Lucie poured several glasses of whiskey.

"Brady, bring those whores over here." Brady grabbed Ophelia and Angeline each by the arm and dragged them to O'Toole's table, shoving them each down in a chair. With all the women gathered around the table, O'Toole pushed a glass of whiskey at each of them.

"Drink."

Althea looked at the glass of whiskey in front of her as if it were a rattlesnake coiled and prepared to strike.

"What's the matter, bitch? I said drink!" O'Toole yelled at her.

"I don't drink," Althea whispered.

"You just started," O'Toole picked up the glass and pressed it into Althea's hand.

Althea closed her eyes. "God forgive me," she whispered, and took the tiniest sip of the amber liquid. Immediately she began to cough, spitting the sip of whiskey back out onto the table.

O'Toole yanked the glass out of her hand.

"Bring her some damn water. We ain't wastin' good whiskey on someone who can't drink." Althea looked relieved.

O'Toole continued to drink whiskey until his words slurred. Outside, a group of men gathered and the noise on the street grabbed his attention.

"What the hell's going on out there?" He pushed Lily off his lap and stood. "Don't you go anywhere, there, wifey. I ain't gonna be gone long and we still have some celebratin' to do," he slurred, staggering to the saloon's swinging doors. Brady stood and went with him, more than a little off-balance himself.

With the two outlaws finally away from them and out of earshot, the women began whispering.

"Is Stan dead?" Lily asked, fearful of the answer.

"No, but he needs a doctor. We have to let these two think he's dead though, or he will be for sure," Lucie replied.

"What are we going to do?" Althea whispered.

"Hopefully Judd and Cooper get back to town soon. Somebody will surely tell them what happened," Lily answered.

Outside, the mayor and a group of townsmen had gathered and were shouting at O'Toole and Brady.

"Let the women go!"

"You won't get away with this!"

"Give up the women! Take a few of us if you need hostages!"

"Shut up!" O'Toole yelled at the crowd. "Yer making my head hurt!" With that, he pulled out his gun and shot over top of the crowd. The group hushed instantly.

"Brady, keep an eye on things here and shut 'em up if they get too loud. I gotta get back to my party," O'Toole ordered his sidekick. Then, staggering back to the table, he grabbed Lily by the arm and the hair.

"Come on, wifey. It's time to celebrate yer wedding night." He yanked her to her feet and steered her to the stairs, pushing her up the steps in front of him. Halfway up, he turned to the remaining women, "Don't you all wait up for us," he laughed, "we could be all night."


	7. Chapter 7

Lily trembled as O'Toole pushed her down the hallway to the familiar room at the end of the hall – her old room when she was the singer at the Red Ox. That felt like a lifetime ago. That was before the shootout with Moon Lavocat's gang, before Judd Weaver ever spoke to her, before their first picnic, before Judd asked to court her, before she fell in love with the handsome blond deputy sheriff, before he proposed, before she had walked down the aisle to her long-awaited future with him just that morning. Tears filled her dark eyes as O'Toole kicked the door open and shoved her across the room. Lily stumbled and fell to the floor. Before she could stand up, O'Toole grabbed her and threw her on the bed. She rolled to the other side of the bed and hit the floor, scrambling to stand and run out of the room, but O'Toole was that much bigger and quicker and stopped her.

"The harder you make this, the worse it's gonna be for yerself, wifey," he snarled in her ear, as he picked her up and threw her back onto the bed. Lily's head hit the brass headboard and she saw stars. She was briefly reminded of sitting under the wagon in the rain the day of that first picnic with Judd, when lightning spooked both her and the horses and she jumped, hitting her head hard on the bottom of the wagon. That memory quickly vanished as O'Toole climbed onto the bed and pulled her toward him, kissing her hard and forcing his tongue deep into her mouth. He tasted like strong whiskey and smelled like sour sweat. The combination made Lily's stomach churn and she fought the urge to throw up as she tried to push him away. O'Toole relented enough to pick her up and center her on the bed. He straddled her legs, sitting on them to keep her from struggling. With one hand, he held both her wrists. With the other, he began to unbutton his shirt, shrugging it off to reveal his hairy chest and large gut. Lily was instantly repulsed and turned her head away. O'Toole grabbed her once again by the hair, turning her head toward him and trying to kiss her once more. He started working the buttons on her wedding gown, but the tiny pearls wore at his patience until he finally gave up and just tore the fabric, ripping her beautiful lace and crepe de chine dress right down the center to her waist. Lily gave in to the tears she had been trying to keep from falling; they overflowed her dark eyes and she sobbed loudly. This was not supposed to happen on her wedding day.

* * *

Downstairs, Brady stood by the door, transfixed by the crowd growing outside the saloon. There were a lot of men out there and they were getting angrier by the minute. He wasn't sure what to do. He knew if he went upstairs, the women might escape and he'd be interrupting O'Toole with the woman in the wedding gown. Both would make O'Toole really angry and he was particularly murderous when he was angry. Still, he probably should know what was going on. Hell, he could probably hear it. Brady stepped out onto the wooden walkway in front of the saloon, raised his gun, and fired a couple shots toward the angry mob. Somebody in the crowd shot back, grazing Brady's arm.

"Goddamn!" Brady hissed, pointing his gun the direction the shots came from. Without any regard to O'Toole's earlier warning about killing anyone, he fired into the crowd several times. A wounded howl found its way over the angry shouts and the crowd scattered. A lone man lay on the dusty street, a pool of blood forming under his lifeless body.

"That's right. That's right, goddamn it," Brady shouted, firing another couple of shots into the air until his gun clicked empty. "Let that be a warning. I'll kill anyone that comes close!"

The women huddled at the table, wide-eyed with terror, whispering to each other. They heard the struggle upstairs and the gunshots from outside and listened in horror as Lily's sobs turned to screams for help.

"We have to do something," Althea whispered with tears in her eyes.

"We need a gun," Angeline countered.

"I can get us a gun," Lucie answered, "We need a distraction."

"What about that one," Ophelia whispered; pointing to Brady, who was standing just inside the door, reloading his pistol and shouting threats to anyone who dared to show his face on the street outside.

The women were silent for a few moments and then Lucie motioned them all to huddle closer. "I have a plan," she whispered, filling them in on her idea.

Althea got up and crossed the room as quietly as possible to the woodstove where the coffee pot sat. Her efforts to be quiet didn't matter; Brady's attention was fixed on the street.

Returning to the table, Althea grabbed a coffee cup from the bar, filling it with the steaming hot liquid. That's when Brady saw her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I thought you might want a cup of coffee," Althea replied sweetly, holding up the cup and coffee pot.

"I don't want no damn coffee," Brady grouched. "What the hell do you ladies think this is? Some damn church social?"

"Well, I just thought it might help your headache," Althea countered, continuing to move toward him.

"I don't have no damn headache."

"You do now," Ophelia chortled as Althea tossed the cup of hot coffee in Brady's face and Ophelia and Angeline both smacked him as hard as they could over the head with whiskey bottles.

Lucie was ready. As soon as she saw Althea throw the coffee, she darted behind the bar. When she got the whiskey for O'Toole when they first arrived, she saw Clarence's old short-barreled rifle lying on the floor next to Stan. She grabbed it and ran upstairs toward the sound of Lily's screams. None of the locks on the upstairs doors worked very well and Lucie knew from the experience of having to save a few of her saloon sisters in the past that the key she wore on a ribbon around her neck would work in every door if she jiggled the door knob just right. Unlocking the door to Lily's old room and letting it swing wide, she found herself horrified at the scene revealed to her. Lily lay on the bed, her wedding gown torn and pushed high above her hips, struggling underneath that monster as he prepared to…

Lucie couldn't let it happen. She raised the gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"Quit yer damn screamin' and cryin'. Ain't nobody here to help you, girlie," O'Toole growled. He sat back on his heels and unbuckled his belt and began unbuttoning his pants, pushing them down enough to expose himself. As he straddled Lily and roughly shoved her wedding dress up above her hips, she brought her knee up between his legs, making hard contact with his manhood. O'Toole howled in pain, clutching himself and collapsing on top of Lily's petite frame. Lily struggled under the weight of him until O'Toole finally caught his breath and raised himself up on one arm.

"You rotten little bitch." He raised his right hand and slapped her hard across the cheek. Lily saw fireworks explode and tasted blood, which she immediately spat into O'Toole's face. He sat back on his knees and shoved his hand hard between her thighs, tearing at delicate fabric and tender flesh at the very same moment the door swung open and a loud blast filled the room. O'Toole's eyes bulged open wide and he grabbed at his chest before collapsing again on top of Lily, all his weight knocking the wind out of her. She struggled to get out from underneath him and see where the blast came from.

Lucie stood at the door with Clarence's short-barreled rifle in her hands. She looked dazed. She hadn't expected the recoil from the gun to knock her so hard against the door frame. She came to her senses and dropped the gun, rushing to pull O'Toole off of Lily, toppling his lifeless body onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Sweet Jesus, Lily! Are you okay? We heard you screaming downstairs. You poor baby, it had to be horrible." Lucie wrapped Lily in a hug, pulling a blanket around her friend and kissing her hair.

"I'm okay, Lucie. I'm not hurt. He tried, but he didn't do anything."

"Your face, though," Lucie touched Lily's swollen cheek that was beginning to shadow over with the beginning of a large bruise.

"He hit me."

"Well, I'm glad I shot him. Even if I have to go to jail, I'm glad." Lucie smiled half-heartedly as she realized the consequences of what she'd done.

"Don't worry, Lucie. I'm the deputy sheriff's wife. I'm sure we can figure this all out. If he'll still have me after all this," Lily looked down at her torn and destroyed wedding gown that was now stained red with O'Toole's blood. Tears filled her eyes, but she willed herself to be strong. If her friend could do what she had just done to save her, she could be strong for her friend.

Both women were startled by screams from the saloon below them and the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Lucie ran for the rifle and shouldered it, aiming at the door as Lily ran to the other side of the bed, searching for anything she could use as a weapon. Her eyes landed on the oil lamp on the bedside table. She picked it up and held it in preparation to throw it.

Brady ran into the room, catching sight of his partner on the floor in a puddle of blood, his cold, unseeing eyes fixed in a death stare.

"You lousy whore, what did you do?" he roared as he turned toward Lucie. She pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. She tried again, but the gun still didn't fire.

Brady approached her and grabbed the gun by the barrel, yanking it out of Lucie's hands and throwing it across the room. Lily heaved the lamp in the direction of his head and missed by just inches. He ducked as he felt it stir the air as it flew by his head.

"You're damn lucky you missed, little lady," Brady growled. "I'll deal with you when I'm done with this one." He grabbed Lucie's long, red hair and dragged her out of the room and down the hall, pushing her down the stairs ahead of him. Lucie tumbled, but stood and tried to race down the stairs to safety before the enraged outlaw could grab her again, but her shoe caught in her skirt and she nearly fell, allowing him time to catch up to her. He grabbed her again and dragged her down the steps to the woodstove. Lily ran down the stairs behind him, screaming hysterically for him to let Lucie go.

"You're going to pay for what you've done, bitch," Brady hissed, his arms wrapped around Lucie like a vice. He pressed the side of her face to the top of the wood stove, burning her. The room filled with Lucie's screams of pain and the stench of burning flesh and hair. Brady yanked her away from the stove and tossed her like a rag doll across the room.

"See how much whorin' you do now, now that you ain't so pretty anymore," Brady snarled. Lucie's cries of pain mixed with the sound of sobs from Althea, Lily, Angeline and Ophelia. Althea ran to Lucie's side to see how badly she was hurt.

"Shut up, shut up! All of you, damn it!" Brady yelled, grabbing a chair and slamming it against the wall to get their attention. "Now you," Brady turned to where Lily stood frozen on the steps and pulled a knife from under his jacket, waving it menacingly in her direction. "Now it's time to deal with you."

* * *

Cooper and Weaver rode back to town, followed by Feeney, Berkey, and Matt with the two wagons of deceased stagecoach passengers. While Feeney and the other two men took the wagons to the undertaker, Cooper and Weaver continued down the main street of town, drawn by a commotion on the street outside the Red Ox.

"Wonder what's going on down there?" Cooper mused as the shouts of the growing crowd grew louder.

"We're going to check it out, aren't we?" Weaver asked. He had been hoping to get home and get another piece of Minnie's fried chicken and some more of that cake, kiss Lily, and get started on their honeymoon activities, but he could see from the look of determination on Cooper's face that food and kissing and honeymooning were all going to have to wait.

Before they got near the Red Ox, the mayor ran up to Cooper and Weaver. "We got trouble, Cooper! Two outlaws got Miss Althea and Miss Lily and a bunch of the saloon girls and they're holding them hostage in the Red Ox. We've had men trying to go in after them but one of the outlaws has been shooting at us. Nobody can get in!"

"Who are they, do you know?" Cooper asked

"Never saw them before," the mayor replied.

"Where's Jane?" Cooper asked, scanning the street ahead of them.

"Last I saw, Minnie had her. If she's still with Minnie, she's fine."

At that moment, a piercing scream came from the direction of the saloon. Cooper and Weaver spurred their horses and raced down the dusty street.

Upon reaching the Red Ox, Cooper and Weaver saw the aftermath of Brady's sudden shooting outburst. One man lay dead in the street, the dusty ground beneath him turned a dark maroon from drying blood. Several men huddled behind wagons and watering troughs with rifles or pistols pointed toward the saloon. Doctor Amos was tending to a man who had been shot in the arm, wrapping the wound with a bandage. Both Cooper and Weaver dismounted from their horses and drew their guns. They slowly approached the wooden walkway in front of the saloon and peered in the front window. What they saw stunned them both. Two of the saloon girls crouched in front of the bar, clinging to each other and crying. Althea was huddled over another girl who was curled into a ball on the floor. Lily stood on the steps, her hair a disheveled mess, her wedding gown torn and covered in blood. A look of horror was frozen on her face, her dark eyes wide with fear. Standing in front of Lily was a large man with long, graying hair and a buckskin jacket, holding a knife. Judd couldn't see the man's face, but judging from the look on Lily's face, he intended to use that knife on her. Slowly and quietly, Judd edged toward the door.

"Weaver!" Cooper called in a low whisper. "Stay here! Let me get around the back!"

Weaver had only taken his eyes off of Lily for a second to acknowledge Cooper. When he looked back, the man had raised his arm and was about to throw the knife at Lily. Lily remained frozen in terror on the stairs. Unable to move, she only stared at the man.

"Lily!" Judd yelled as he burst through the saloon doors.

"Weaver, no!" Cooper shouted as he had no choice but to follow the young deputy into the saloon.

* * *

Caught off guard by the sudden outburst, Brady turned and threw the knife in the direction of the doorway. Weaver's surprise entrance shook Lily out of her dazed state and she screamed as she saw the knife flying toward her new husband. Cooper reacted quickly, pulling Weaver with him as he dove out of the way. The knife lodged itself into the wood between the door and the window.

Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, Lily ran, but Brady caught her. Wrapping an arm around her neck, he dragged her to the woodstove.

"No, no, please don't, please don't burn me," Lily begged, choking on her tears.

"Shut up and do as I say and maybe I won't have to," Brady growled menacingly in her ear. "So, _the law_ finally decided to show up," he mocked as Cooper and Weaver ducked behind the bar to organize their plan of attack.

"I'm not afraid of _the law_ ," Brady continued, "You see, I have the upper hand. I have somebody's bride here. Somebody's ruined bride, since my partner decided to have his way with her. I'm not happy about that. Not because I'm a gentleman, but because I think I should get a turn, too, and I think I just might. Nothing finer than a fresh young bride on her wedding night." Brady laughed.

Lily's sobs grew louder as she began to fear what might happen to her next. Judd could hear her crying and the outlaw's words and Lily's tears began to fill him with a hot, red rage. He moved to stand, his gun at the ready. Cooper reached over and put his hand on Weaver's forearm. He shook his head no and held up one finger, motioning to Weaver to wait.

Cooper grabbed a glass from the shelf along the wall and crawled along the length of the bar. He stopped along the way to check on Stan who was still alive but in desperate need of Doc Amos' attention. Stan had managed to find a towel within reach and hold it against the bullet wound on his shoulder, but his strength was running out. He gave Cooper a slight nod to let him know he was okay. Cooper continued along the length of the bar until he reached the opposite end. He motioned for Weaver to get ready and then threw the glass against the side of the woodstove.

Brady was standing in front of the stove when the glass exploded against it, sending shards flying and startling him. He jumped, releasing Lily, and grabbed for his gun. Lily and the other women screamed and dove under the nearest table. Weaver and Cooper both leaped from behind the bar and started firing.

"Althea! Lily!" Cooper yelled, "Get behind the bar!" Lily, Ophelia, and Angeline darted from their hiding place under the table to behind the bar and then helped Althea pull Lucie to safety with them. They all huddled together with their arms wrapped around each other against the bar as gunshots rang out in the room just on the other side of the polished wood separating them from the chaos.

Brady didn't know which direction to fire first. Cooper was at one end of the bar shooting at him while Weaver was behind a table or the other end of the piano at the other side of the room, also firing shots. He knew if he could manage to get up to the top of the stairs he'd have a clear view of where the sheriff and the deputy were firing from. He was nearly out of bullets, and O'Toole's gun was upstairs. If he could just get to the top of the stairs and fire a few shots to keep the lawmen occupied for a couple of minutes, he could get to the room at the end of the hall, grab O'Toole's gun belt and have enough ammunition to shoot holes through the side of the saloon into the next building. Getting upstairs was the challenge.

Keeping low, Brady edged toward the steps. Weaver was waiting for him to move, and kicked a chair into the middle of the room. The sudden movement caught Brady by surprise and he turned and fired, only to realize he wasted precious ammunition on an empty chair.

"You think you're smart, lawman," Brady snarled in anger. "Step out here and show your face. Let me see how smart you really are!"

Weaver had heard all the taunting he cared to hear from the outlaw. He edged out of the shadows in the corner by the piano with his pistol raised.

Gunshots filled the room from what seemed like every direction, followed by the loud, dull, thud of a body hitting a hardwood floor echoed in Lily's ears. It was the same sound O'Toole had made when Lucie had dragged his lifeless body off of Lily and rolled him onto the floor.

A sudden, eerie calm settled over the smoke-filled room only to be broken by Lily's screams.

"Judd! Judd, no!"

Lily scrambled to her feet, shaking off the arms of the other women who struggled to hold her in place in the safety offered by the polished wooden bar. Her eyes blinded by tears and smoke from all the shooting, Lily stumbled over both Stan and Lucie, trying to get to her husband.

"No, no, no!" she cried over and over, tripping over her torn dress as she tried to find him, to reach him.


	8. Chapter 8

Acrid white smoke hung thick in the air of the Red Ox Saloon, burning Lily's eyes and throat. She searched through the haze, feeling her way along the bar, calling out Judd's name, trying to find her husband. Her heart was heavy with dread as she got no response in the suddenly-silent room. Just as she began to fear the worst and panic began to set in, Judd Weaver caught his new bride as she stumbled toward him, crying out in surprise as she landed in his arms.

"Lily, Lily, it's okay. It's all over. Everything's okay," he soothed, clutching her to him and kissing her hair, her forehead, everywhere he could reach.

Lily turned her tear-streaked face up to kiss her husband, wrapping her arms tightly around him. In the process, she noticed him flinch and felt a sticky wetness on her hand. Drawing away, she saw the blood. It covered her hand and had soaked through his shirt and vest. A new wave of panic filled her heart, rising from her stomach and making her knees go so weak that she could barely stand.

"Oh, dear Lord, Judd, you've been shot!" Lily's eyes were wild with terror as she tore his vest from his shoulders and pulled his shirt from his waistband to try to find the wound. An angry gash oozed red just below his ribcage. Lily stared in shock at the blood on her hand and on the taut skin of her husband's stomach.

Judd pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped away the blood. "It's okay, Lily. It's only a graze. I'm fine." He took in the sight of her ripped and bloodstained wedding dress, disheveled hair, and the purple bruise that covered her cheek. "What happened, Lily? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"His friend," Lily started to speak, motioning toward the stairs. She couldn't say any more, though, as she was suddenly overcome by emotion from everything that had happened. She collapsed against Judd, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Lily, sweetheart…." Judd eased to the floor with Lily in his arms, cradling her against his chest and letting her cry.

* * *

On the other side of the room, Hayes Cooper stood over the body of the outlaw crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. Warily, he poked at him with the toe of his boot, holding his gun on him in case the man was only knocked out and not dead. Only when the man didn't move and didn't appear to be breathing was Cooper satisfied that he was no longer alive, but he still picked up his gun and carried it with him as he returned to the bar

"He's dead," Cooper said bluntly to Weaver, and then turned his attention to his wife.

Althea stood and met her husband's gaze before throwing her arms around his neck.

"Oh, Cooper! It was terrible!" she exclaimed. "But these ladies," Althea looked around at Lily, Lucie, Angeline, and Ophelia, "these ladies are the bravest ladies I have ever known."

"Us?" Angeline spoke up. "If it wasn't for you, Lucie wouldn't have been able to get Clarence's gun and get upstairs to Lily. You're one brave lady, too, Mrs. Cooper."

"Yes, but…" Althea looked sadly at Lucie who was writhing in pain, clutching at her burned face.

"She's still alive," Angeline said softly, leaning over Lucie. "We'll get her to the doctor. She's tough. This wasn't your fault, Mrs. Cooper. This wasn't anyone's fault but his." Angeline nodded her head toward where Brady lay dead at the bottom of the stairs.

Cooper held his wife for several long moments before Althea spoke again.

"Cooper, where's the baby?" she asked, her voice suddenly breaking with fear and concern.

"It's okay, Althea. Minnie still has her."

"Oh, thank heaven!" Althea sighed with relief. "She'll probably never want to come home, though, after Minnie's spoiled her all day. " Althea looked down at Lucie who was still curled up in a ball on the floor. "Cooper, we need the doctor."

Ophelia jumped to her feet. "I'll get him," she called over her shoulder as she ran out of the saloon into the street.

* * *

While they waited for Doc Amos to come back, Althea and Angeline told Cooper and Weaver how the two outlaws had cornered them at the grove outside the church and forced them to walk at gunpoint to the Red Ox. They explained how Stan had gotten shot when O'Toole chased all the cowboys out of the saloon and how he had gotten drunk and had taken Lily upstairs while Brady kept anyone outside from coming in to help them by shooting at the crowd of men on the street.

Judd looked at Lily with a raised eyebrow. He didn't have to ask the one question that he had been fearful of asking; fearful of finding out the answer.

"No. He didn't. He tried, but he didn't," Lily replied quietly, her dark eyes meeting her husband's brilliant blue eyes. She held his gaze for several seconds while Judd said a silent prayer of thanks. Lily recounted what happened after O'Toole had taken her upstairs, filling in what was going on in the room at the end of the hall until Lucie had burst through the door with Clarence's rifle and shot O'Toole.

Angeline told the men about Lucie's plan to rescue Lily and how Althea had subdued Brady by splashing him in the face with hot coffee and how she and Ophelia had stunned him by hitting him over the head with whiskey bottles while Lucie retrieved Clarence's gun from behind the bar and ran upstairs to help Lily. She said they thought they were all safe until Brady had gone after Lucie and had burned her face on the woodstove. It was right after that, she recalled, when Cooper and Weaver had rushed in; the screams they heard on the street had been Lucie's.

"Thank God you got back to town when you did, Sheriff," Angeline praised, "who knows what might have happened next."

Cooper was amazed at the bravery and resolve the group of women had shown in the face of so much danger. He took his wife's hand in his, giving it a squeeze. He had always known Althea had quite a bit of fire and spunk. It was part of her personality that had drawn him to her when they'd first met. He was pleased to know that part of her personality as well as her cool, level head had helped to keep the events in that saloon earlier that day from turning into far worse than what they had been.

* * *

Doc Amos tended to both Stan and Judd at the saloon. The bullet O'Toole had fired had been a clear shot right through Stan's shoulder and only required some cleaning and bandaging. Doc Amos fashioned a sling for him and told Stan to get some rest for a couple of days before doing any bartending.

Judd had been right. His wound was only a graze, although Doc told him - out of earshot of Lily – that he had been very lucky. Had that graze been an actual hit, he probably would not have survived. Judd didn't take those words lightly. He turned those words over and over in his mind while Doc applied a bandage and told him not to be foolish and do anything that would aggravate the wound.

Lucie was another issue entirely. Doc Amos took one look at her and asked Matt and Berkey to carry her to his office. The burns on the side of her face and head were so severe and she was in so much pain that she had fallen into a state of shock. Doc said he'd have to clean away the burned and blistered skin, apply an ointment, and bandage the burned areas daily to keep infection from setting in and to try to avoid the possibility of her losing her eye. He told Cooper, Althea, and Lily this very quietly as Lucie was being carried out of the Red Ox because he didn't want to alarm her.

"And you, young lady," Doc Amos said, directing his attention to Lily after ascertaining that Althea, Angeline and Ophelia were all okay and uninjured, "I'd like to see you in my office, too."

"I'm fine, Doctor, really," Lily protested, knowing that her current appearance betrayed her.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Miss Lily," Doc Amos replied sternly. "Weaver, you bring your lovely bride down to my office so I can look her over for any injuries."

Before Lily could offer a complaint in reply, Judd was behind her, winding an arm around her waist and pulling her gently against him. "Maybe you should listen to Doc, Lily, just to be sure," he suggested quietly. "It would make me feel better."

Lily gave her husband a slight smile. She'd had plenty of prodding and handling for one day, but she supposed he was right. "Alright," she agreed. Taking the blanket Angeline had offered to cover her torn and bloody wedding gown, she followed Doc Amos out of the saloon and down the street.

Matt and Berkey had returned, this time with the undertaker to take care of the two dead outlaws. They started uprighting tables as Angeline and Ophelia began cleaning up. As cowboys began to drift back in to the saloon, the two women took Stan's place behind the bar pouring drinks. Before long, the Red Ox was full of the usual crowd and noise, as if none of the day's events had taken place.


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you sure you're okay?" Judd asked, bending to adjust the wick on the oil lamp on the bedside table in Lily's – now their – bedroom.

"I'm fine," Lily replied.

"Okay, then." Judd turned and bent to kiss Lily gently on the cheek before he left the room. He paused in the doorway and turned to her. "Goodnight, sweetheart." The door closed silently but solidly between them.

Lily listened to his footsteps gradually grow quieter as she envisioned him walking down the hall and down the stairs. She sat on the edge of the bed and willed herself not to cry. She had cried enough tears that day. Tears of joy at her wedding, tears of fear and helplessness in her own saloon when she was at the mercy of two outlaws who were bent on ruining her and her friends, tears of relief when she realized her husband was still alive after all the gunfire had ceased and her fears had consumed her. She stared, repulsed, at the torn and bloody wedding dress that lay in a crumpled heap of lace and ruffles on the floor at the foot of the bed. With a disgusted sigh, she stood and kicked it into the corner of the room out of sight. She'd burn it in the morning, she decided.

Lily crossed the room to her dressing table and picked up her hairbrush, making sure to avoid any sight of herself in the mirror. She had caught a glimpse of her reflection earlier and had been horrified at the reddish-purple bruise that had swollen and spread across her cheek like a stain. She began to slowly and methodically brush her hair the one-hundred strokes her mother had taught her as a young girl, winding the ends of her raven tresses around her fingers to form gentle curls. As she did, she heard voices from the dusty street below. She went to the open window and strained to listen. One voice was her husband's, she knew that for sure, but the other voice was low and quiet and she struggled to make it out. She heard a horse whinny its impatience and realized it was Cooper. He was probably out on his rounds and had stopped to see if everything was okay. She was fine, she wanted to scream out the window. She was fine; Judd had been grazed by a bullet, but he'd be okay, too. She had told everyone at the saloon, she told Doc Amos, and she had spent the entire rest of the evening trying to convince Judd, all to no avail. Her own husband acted like he was afraid to touch her, on their wedding night, even!

Lily sat back down on the edge of the bed again, straightening the delicate crocheted lace on the white cotton chemise she had chosen to wear for her first night with her new husband. Oh, how she had wanted him to see her in it - and out of it - and here she sat, alone on her wedding night.

Once again, her tears fell.

* * *

Judd Weaver pulled the bedroom door closed behind him, a war of emotions going on between his heart and his head. He wanted to stay with Lily and hold her and mark their first night together as man and wife the way he had hoped they would, but after everything that had happened that day, he couldn't think of doing anything so intimate without feeling like an unsympathetic monster. To make matters worse, he felt guilty, horribly guilty. Had he not gone off with Cooper to investigate that stagecoach raid, none of the day's events that followed would have happened. It wasn't like he had been able to do anything for the people on the stage anyhow. It had been far too late for any of them by the time he and Cooper had gotten there. No, if he would only have stayed in town, Lily, Althea, and the saloon girls wouldn't have been taken hostage, Lily wouldn't have been nearly raped, and Lucie wouldn't have been severely burned. There wouldn't have been a shootout in the saloon and right now, he would be upstairs with Lily in his arms, where she belonged.

Judd eased himself down onto the porch steps, wincing in pain from the bullet graze on his side. If he had stayed in town, he wouldn't have that to deal with, either, he mused, laughing to himself at the irony. He thought about going to the saloon for a drink. Some whiskey would calm his thoughts and help him sleep but he didn't want to leave Lily alone. It was bad enough leaving her upstairs by herself. Instead, he sat on the steps, listening to the sounds of the town winding down for the night and smelling the early fall Texas air. He could hear shouts and laughter from the saloon, and the sound of a dog barking not far away. A lonesome owl hooted and then hooted again, waiting for a reply, and somewhere down the worn and dusty street, he heard a horse nicker and then heard hoof beats.

* * *

Hayes Cooper was making his last rounds for the night before going home to his wife and baby daughter. He was thankful that it was a quiet night in Bovine. The town had seen enough excitement earlier that day when two outlaws had raided the stagecoach and then had come in to town and held his wife, his deputy's new bride and several of the saloon girls hostage. Cooper hated days like that and was glad there weren't many of them to be had in Bovine. Cooper had stopped in at the Red Ox to see how things were going. The regular barkeeper had been shot during the day's earlier drama and two of the saloon girls were tending bar in his place. After reassuring himself that the girls had things under control and that Matt and Berkey were there to help out if any of the cowboys got a little too rowdy and out of hand, Cooper left to finish his rounds.

Cooper had just turned down the last street before heading back home when he noticed Judd Weaver sitting on the porch steps of the house he would now share with Liliana Westfall. Thinking it was odd for a man to be sitting alone on his front porch on his wedding night rather than spending it inside with his new bride, Cooper rode up, reining his horse to a stop.

"Everything okay, Weaver?" Cooper asked.

"Just enjoying the evening," Weaver replied.

"Shouldn't you be doing that inside, and with your bride?" Cooper asked with a grin as he dismounted from his horse.

Judd Weaver let out a long, slow sigh. "Truth is, Cooper, I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do tonight. After everything that happened today, I didn't know if I should leave Lily alone or not leave her out of my sight. I started to feel like she wanted a little breathing room, so I told her goodnight and came out here."

Cooper nodded his head thoughtfully. "You don't believe that he didn't do anything to her, do you?"

"No, no. It's not that. If Lily says he didn't do anything to her, I believe her. I believe every word she says," Weaver replied, "It's just…" His voice trailed off as he looked down the street toward the saloon, pinching his lips together in a hard line and shaking his head.

"Just what?" Cooper prodded.

"Cooper, what did I do? What in the world did I do?" Weaver asked, dismayed, running his hands through his long blond hair.

"What are you talking about? You aren't having second thoughts about marrying Lily, are you?" Cooper sounded surprised and angry.

"Not in the way you're thinking, boss." Weaver slowly pushed himself up from the step, grimacing from the pain in his side. He took a few steps and then leaned against the post at the side of the porch.

"I just wonder if I did the right thing, dragging Lily into this kind of life. Look what happened today, Cooper. I left town and she was attacked. She could have been hurt or killed. If I had stayed here in town, that never would have happened. All I can think of is that it's my fault it happened and that I was so horribly selfish for wanting Lily for myself instead of thinking of what kind of danger I could be putting her in by not being around to take care of her."

"Well, that would make me horribly selfish, too, Weaver. I don't think of it that way, though."

"No?"

"No. We can't help what people do. All we can do is stand up for what is right and good in the world and hope that more and more people follow our example. I feel bad, too, that I wasn't here when those men came in to town and took our women hostage. If we were here, you're damn right it never would have happened. But you heard what Lily and Althea and the girls at the saloon did. There's not a doubt in my mind that they can take care of themselves if they have to. Hopefully they won't ever have to do anything like that again, and if there ever is a next time, we'll be there to take care of them. There's a lot more good in this world, Weaver, than there is bad, and you married Lily because you saw the good in her and because she brought out the good in you. That's not something to go second-guessing."

Weaver gave Cooper's words a few moments' thought. "I guess you're right, boss."

"You guess? I know I'm right," Cooper cracked.

"So what do I do now?" Weaver asked.

"Weaver, it's your wedding night. I don't think I need to tell you what to do," Cooper laughed as he climbed back into the saddle and steered his horse back onto the dusty track. "I better not see you in the morning, either!" Cooper tipped his hat to his young deputy as he rode off.

* * *

Judd Weaver slipped back into the house and blew out the oil lamp on the kitchen table. He was almost to the top of the stairs when Lily appeared in a long white cotton chemise, her feet bare, her hair long and loose around her shoulders. Judd gasped in surprise. He was used to seeing Lily properly dressed and her hair perfectly done. To his amazement, she looked even more beautiful in her undone state. He struggled to find words.

"I heard a noise," Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Cooper was making his rounds. He stopped to see if everything was okay."

"You don't believe me that I'm okay, do you?" Lily asked skeptically.

"I believe you, I just…" Judd started, stammering.

"You just what?" Lily asked, annoyed. She reached out and took Judd's hand. "Come here. Come with me." She led Judd up the rest of the stairs and into their bedroom. Turning to look at him, she spoke again, "Yes, something awful happened today. Yes, it scared me nearly to death. That's why I need you, Judd. I love you and I need you to make everything better. " Lily stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her body against his and her cheek against his chest.

"I need you to show me you still want me. After all the awful that happened today, be my wonderful, Judd. You've always been my wonderful. Fix everything and make everything better."

Judd was overcome by a wave of passion unlike anything he had ever felt before. He pulled Lily into a long, deep kiss, his tongue tracing circles over her lips and teasing and tasting her while his fingers tangled in the inky silk of her hair. Lily responded by moaning softly and running her hands over Judd's broad chest, her fingers deftly unbuttoning his shirt to slide it off of his shoulders, allowing her to run her hands down his arms and back.

Every contact of Lily's fingers against his skin felt like a lightning bolt, and Judd had to stop kissing Lily for a moment and lean against the wall to catch his breath. Lily stood on tiptoe, kissing Judd along his jaw and down his neck, running her tongue lightly along his collarbone. She brushed her fingertips gently over the bandage that covered the wound under his ribs and Judd winced.

"Sorry," Lily whispered, brushing her mouth over the area of the bullet graze in a kiss. Judd leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. A low moan escaped his lips as he felt the heat of her breath through the bandage. Lily's hands trailed to his waist and teased at his belt buckle.

Judd caught her hands and looked into her dark eyes. "Are you sure? After today, Lily, are you sure?"

Lily replied with a breathless yes as she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him, allowing him to draw her tongue into his mouth. Judd struggled with the buttons on Lily's chemise and Lily could feel his growing frustration, both with the tiny buttons that extended from neck to hem of her white cotton gown and with the unmistakable sign of his arousal that pressed hard against her stomach.

"Let me help you," Lily whispered.

Judd reached for the oil lamp as Lily started undoing the buttons on her chemise.

"No, leave it on." Lily pulled the cotton gown over her head and dropped it at her feet. In the pale glow of the oil lamp, her bare skin seemed to glow golden.

Judd couldn't control himself any longer. He picked Lily up and set her gently on the bed, unable to take his eyes off of her. Within moments, he had shed all his clothes and had covered her body with his; the feel of her skin against his creating sensations throughout his body that he had never experienced before. Judd had been with other women but none of them had ever brought about the feelings of desire he had with Lily. With Lily, he was insatiable, unable to get enough of her: her kisses, the feel of her touch, the movement of her body under his. Lily's inexperience was undetectable. She was eager to learn what pleased her husband and eager to explore and discover what pleased her. Over and over, they claimed each other for their own until, in the wee hours of the morning, both completely satisfied and exhausted, they wrapped themselves in each other's arms and slept peacefully.

* * *

Judd Weaver woke early the next morning just as the sun was starting to peek over the eastern horizon. He glanced around the strange room, slightly startled, trying to figure out where he was. Then it dawned on him: he was where he belonged, in his new home with his new bride. Lily was curled tightly into his side, her head just under his shoulder and her long, raven hair splayed over his chest and stomach. Judd reached down and brushed her hair from her face, drawing in a sharp breath in shock when he saw just how bad the bruise on her cheek looked in the pale gray morning light.

Lily stirred from the sound, slowly blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning," she smiled as she raised herself on one elbow. Judd could feel every part of himself awakening at the view Lily allowed him as the blanket fell away from her slim body.

"Mmmm," Judd responded, pulling Lily close to kiss her.

"I should fix breakfast," Lily tossed the blanket off and tried to squirm out of Judd's grasp and sit up.

"Who said anything about anyone being hungry," Judd growled lustily as he pulled Lily on top of him. He winced in pain as the wound on his side protested.

"Oh no!" Lily gingerly touched the bandaged wound. "Doc Amos said you should take it easy. Maybe we should let you rest," she said, her voice filled with concern as she tried to slide off of Judd and onto the bed.

"Get back here, you," Judd teased. "By taking it easy, Doc meant not riding wild horses or chasing outlaws, not loving my wife, though I must say, Lily, you do give a wild horse a pretty good run for the money."

Lily blushed and hid her face in the pillow.

"Come here, Lily, I'm just teasing!" Judd eased onto his side and raised himself on his elbow. He turned Lily's head toward him with his fingertip and gave her a wink and a smile when he saw how bright red her face was.

"You are an awful tease, Judd Weaver!" Lily exclaimed, her protest silenced as Judd covered her lips with a long, deep kiss.

Pulling her back on top of him again, he smiled, "And you, Mrs. Weaver, are the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on."

"Is that so?" Lily returned Judd's kisses with an equal passion.

"Absolutely." Judd pulled back and looked at Lily with a questioning gaze. "Lily, do you have any idea how much I love you?"

"As much as I love you?" Lily replied with a smile.

"More," Judd responded, wrapping his arms tightly around the petite brunette that had owned his heart from the first moment he heard her sing in the Red Ox Saloon.

Lily felt her own heart swell with so much love and happiness that she felt it could burst right out of her body. "Show me," she whispered.

"Gladly," Judd's voice was husky with emotion as he gave in to his desires once more.

* * *

Lily wrapped a blanket around herself and sipped a cup of coffee as she watched her husband sleep. She gently twirled a lock of his long, blond hair around a couple of her fingers – one of those fingers being the third finger of her left hand, the finger that now wore the wedding band he had placed there the day before - and smiled to herself. She never would have imagined that her life, the life that had started out in Philadelphia and had taken her on a journey west, performing in small towns and big cities along the way, would end up here in a small cattle town in Texas and have her owning a saloon and newly married to the town's deputy sheriff.

Judd woke up and took her hand in his.

"You're awake," Lily noticed.

"You are too," Judd replied sleepily. "What are you doing?"

"Just thinking," Lily held out her hand, admiring her wedding band. "Still trying to get used to the fact that this is all real and not a dream."

"If this was a dream, it's the best one I ever had," Judd sat up and stretched, then wrapped his arms around Lily and kissed her on the cheek. "Is that all you were thinking about?"

"Well, that and how happy I am," Lily snuggled into Judd's arms. "I finally feel like I found a place where I belong."

"That's because you do belong here. And here," Judd held their clasped hands over his heart, nuzzling her neck and nestling her close to him.

Lily sighed contentedly. No, she hadn't planned for her life to turn out this way, but she couldn't be happier that it did. She couldn't wait to see what the future held for her and her handsome deputy sheriff. It was a good feeling, she thought as she smiled to herself, finding that home and heart where she belonged.

* * *

 ** _AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all for all the kind reviews and for following this second installment of my Bovine, Texas series. I really appreciate all of you for reading and following along and for all the words of encouragement! I have several more stories planned for this series, so if you are fans of Judd and Lily, stay tuned!_ **


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